Soldiers of the Light
by Firelord Mel
Summary: Sequel to Dark Knights at Gotham City. Four years have passed since the war with the Giants, three months since Wally's disappearance. Yet the aftermath of both wars still linger, and the 17-year-old Nico di Angelo now works as the Underworld mercenary to hunt down escaped spirits. That is, until he accidently finds himself in the wrong phone booth. Full summary inside.
1. The Mercenary

**Sequel to Dark Knights at Gotham City. Four years have passed since the war with the Giants, three months since Wally's disappearance. Yet the aftermath of both wars still linger, and the 17-year-old Nico di Angelo now works as the Underworld mercenary to hunt down escaped spirits. That is, until he accidently finds himself in the wrong phone booth. This was only the spark of a new war, however, as an ancient evil turns his scrying eyes to Earth, and Nico soon finds himself faced with a difficult choice: to fight for his family who had unknowingly joined the "Light" soldiers that will cleanse the Earth of all impurity, or to fight for a team he'd barely known, who prefers to operate in the dark.**

* * *

 **I dedicate this story/sequel to the most annoying person I've ever known ;) – Juliette Ciaccia.**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, only the storyline.**

 ** _Prologue_**

"He has come."  
"For the girl or the mother?"  
"The mother matters naught. It is the girl that holds the power he seeks."

The said young girl entered. She was no older than the age of 12, and she struggled to keep her emotions in check and voice levelled as she opened her mouth to question her mentors.

"Have you seen my mother?"

They turned, and their hooded faces only made the situation more unnerving.

"She dreads,"

"She prepares,"

"She waits for the inevitable."

The girl huffed, feeling her irritation rise in her stomach. She was _so_ done with their puzzling way of speech.

"For what? What can possibly be so important that has her out for two nights in a row?"

"He comes." said one, with a forever-shadowed face as his blue hood always stayed over his head.

It took a moment, before realisation drawn and the girl choked on a stunned breath, her face twisting into one of horror.

"Y-you don't mean…"

"He comes within the hour."

"How? I thought this was the safest place in the entire universe for me! How did he find us?"

"He seeks. He learns. He watches."

The girl barely managed to keep the bile from rising in her throat, before she stumbled out of the citadel of the great city. She placed a hand to a nearby column to steady herself from her wobbling feet, and didn't even regard the scornful looks the passing monks gave her.

"There you are. What are you doing? Making a public display like this?"

The girl looked up to see her mother standing just in front of her, white cloak flowing majestically behind her with the slight breeze.

"I take it the elders told you? Good. Come quickly, we must make haste."

The girl opened her mouth to protest as her mother grabbed her wrist and pulled her along. She was about to have a mix of a panic and anxiety attack for the first time in her life when the ground shook, and suddenly, flames ripped the sky open. An inhuman bellow shook the city, and the girl froze with fear, while the monks around her began to panic and run.

They knew this day would come.

"Hurry! He comes!" The girl wordlessly followed, too terrified to form words with her gaping mouth.

At the entrance of the temple that was built just for this scenario, the runes that were carved into the ground glowed white when she neared, as if beckoning her.

"You must go at once."

The girl closed her eyes and chanted the mantra she was taught since the age of three, and at once the portal sprung to life. Just before stepping into the portal, however, she hesitated. She glanced behind, to see her mother standing just a metre away, and couldn't help herself; she sprung for her and hugged the older woman fiercely. The mother seemed surprised for a moment, before returning the hug tenderly for only a moment, until the first scream of terror ripped through the normally peaceful atmosphere.

"Remember, no emotions. You understand?" the girl nodded; shocked at herself when she tasted salt on her lips and realised it was her tears.

Quickly, she reached up and wiped her face with the sleeve of her royal blue cloak. Her mother then handed her a bag of what little belongings she owned, and the girl prepared herself.

"I'll come back, when I'm stronger. I promise."

"No. Do not _ever_ come back, and you _must_ warn the people of Earth of his coming. There is no stopping the inevitable, but you _will_ try. Promise me this."

The girl looked down despairingly, but then an explosion rocked the temple, and suddenly, the girl felt a hand on her back, and she was sent plunging into the portal.

"Mother!"

The woman looked upon her daughter's face for the last time, the young girl's usual blank and emotionless face now a genuine guise of anguish, confusion and horror.

"Good-bye…my sweet Raven."

The girl's form vanished and the rune stones began to crack; the power from the one-way portal was collapsing in on itself as the once great city of Azarath trembled before another unholy roar.

" _It's nice to see you again, my lord."_ whispered the woman as she closed her eyes.

It was the last thing that would ever sprout from Arella Roth's lips, before she pulled a dagger from her sleeve and plunged it straight into her heart.

* * *

 **1: The Mercenary**

"P-please…I didn't do nothin'. W-who are you?"

"You know who I am, don't bother hiding it. You owe my father five seconds of having to include your name on my list, and owe _me_ more for tracking your sorry arse down. Now, do you want to do it the easy way or the hard way?"

"No! E-everyone was doin' it, but I swear I didn't mean—"

"Easy, or the hard way?"

"I-I…"

"Hard it is."

With a blink of an eye, the streetlights went out as the world turned cold, and a second later, the man's body lay on the ground, his head rolling a few metres away. As colour slowly flooded back into the world, Nico di Angelo muttered out a chant, and the man's head and body were sucked into the concrete Earth. The 17-year-old half-blood sighed, his hand passing through his shadow mask to rub his temple tiredly. This new mercenary-type job he now had was tiring and time-consuming, but _someone_ had to do something to collect all the escaped souls back to the Underworld, and no one could be more suitable for the job than Nico.

He'd first got the job just a year after the end of the war, when things have settled down. Will had decided to go back to school that year, and invited Nico, but he'd declined without hesitation. There was no freaking way he was going back to school, even if his then best friend – now boyfriend – was attending.

Nico slipped a hand into his pocket, and pulled out a black hPhone (brought to you by Hephaestus). The Son of Hades still remembered the first time when everyone finally convinced Hephaestus to make monster-proof phones for half-bloods. At first it was ridiculously over-priced, being 300 drachmas, but eventually it was dragged down and almost _every_ being within their world owned one.

The phone was very simular to the mortal iPhones, but it had an eternal battery life, unbreakable screen, and unlimited memory. For 20 drachmas a year, a hPhone was provided with global (and Underworld) coverage of Hi-fi network. Nico pressed the hMessenger application and just as he got a message from Thanatoes.

 _The soul of Harry Barnes collected. Will send u next name soon xoxo_

Nico rolled his eyes at that, before slipping the phone back into his pocket. _Four years of hunting souls…_ Nico pulled the hood of his cloak over his head and headed for the busy street just literally around the corner. He had just stepped under the dim light of the moon when he caught his reflection on the reflective window behind a convenience store.

A hooded black figure stared back at him, baggy sleeves from a black robe hung from long arms as he lifted them. All he needed was a scythe to complete the grim reaper look. At that thought, Nico allowed himself to smirk. He was just several metres from stepping onto the busy street when he changed his mind and decided to look normal for once…well, at least not looking like a poorly dressed Halloween enthusiast since _that_ Hades worshipping day was merely a few weeks away.

The half-blood subsequently pulled off his robe and stuffed it into his pocket, before waving away his shadow-mask. Once again, he stared back into his reflection; now obsidian black eyes stared back at him, eye-bags hanging heavily from underneath them, showing his lack of sleep. His face was weary, skin pale as usual, and black hair messy. He noticed how his hair barely grazed the collar of his shirt, and remembered how Hazel had practically strapped him to a chair and cut his 'gods-awful 70s length hippie hair' as described by Annabeth. Hey, it wasn't his fault he never had the time to cut his hair or had the effort to get the damned knots out. It was odd seeing his own face again, as he hadn't for a while. Shrugging to himself, Nico headed out towards the crowded street; he was far too tired to shadow-travel again, and dug out a few bills from his pockets. Perhaps he'll have the first hot-meal for dinner since the last time he dropped by camp long enough to stay – around a month ago.

* * *

"Tigress…Tigress! Hey! Artemis!"

"W-what? Oh, I'm sorry. Was just lost in thought."

Bart – sorry – Kid Flash frowned at her.

"You alright?"

"I—"

"Kid, a little help here."

"Sorry."

Kid Flash lowered his finger from pressing his inter-com, and sped towards the column where Guardian and Bumblebee were trying to short-circuit the power box.

"We've got nothing. If we disconnect one wire the other will send a signal through as a distress call that someone's messing with the circuits, and there's no other way to defuse it."

"No problemo."

A blur of hands and fingers later, the box was defused and lights – including the barely noticeable laser beam trap that would've butchered the entire squad including Bumblebee – should've turned off.

"The lights are off?"

Artemis heard Kid Flash's hushed question, and she confirmed when all the lights abruptly flickered off.

"Crash. Let us know if any of Lex's lap dogs show."

"You got it."

With that, Artemis reached up and flicked her microphone off from her earpiece. By specific orders (but with the least offence, of course) from Aqualad, she was to remain as far from the stealth jobs as possible, mainly because of what happened from Beta squad's last mission to recover an important briefcase hidden within one of the Reach drink's old factories. Let's just say she got distracted when a random civilian who was tall with a slight muscular frame and flaming red hair caught her eye, which made the ex-archer to think it was someone else.

Her moment of distraction nearly cost them the mission and was very, _very_ close to blowing Kid Flash's cover, but they had pulled through in the end and returned to the Watchtower safely. She'd blamed fatigue and her insomnia ever since Wally's…no. Artemis shook her head slightly at her thoughts, forcing a lump down her throat and squeezed her eyes shut to stop them from watering. She claimed she was fine to everyone, surprising even herself at how good she was at acting…but there were slips – times when her emotions were too strong which in turn let loose a torrent of useless tears that were absorbed into her pillow.

The heroine surveyed each direction from her vantage point on the roof of the building, with thanks to Nightwing whom had installed heat and night vision lenses to her mask before he took his indefinite leave of absence in which he had yet to return from. Artemis inhaled a deep breath as she leaned against a telephone post.

She had managed to not cry herself to sleep just a month ago, and believed she was on the road to recovery from her emotional trauma, when she'd gotten a call from Dick to meet up. He'd been waiting for her beside the pond that was a just a few blocks from her house when he'd proposed the idea…the idea that'd dug up fresh emotions and caused her to have a near mental meltdown. Even as she reflected on it now, a hot, scathing wave seemed to burn her insides raw.

The memories brought up were still too fresh; it still hurt too much. She still remembered every word in their conversation just two weeks ago.

 _"_ _How can he still be alive? Everyone saw him, it's not possible!"_

 _"_ _Artemis, just listen to me. There was nothing left, no bones or ashes. You know the rule of conservation of energy? It's not possibl—"_

 _"_ _Anything is possible! Vandal Savage managed to control the entire Justice League for 16 hours straight for god's sake!"_

 _"_ _Exactly. If anything's possible in our world then you can't just not consider the fact that—"_

 _"_ _Consider what? That Wally might still be 'alive' around us as a magical being and that he's watching everything we do?_ Please _, if I had quarter for everytime someone's said that to me—"_

 _"_ _Artemis, please just calm down. I'm just saying—"_

 _"_ _No Dick, just stop. You have to face the fact that Wally's gone forever and he's never going to come back…"_

She had not only been trying to convince Dick to drop the subject, but also convincing herself. When he'd first told her his idea and theory, she'd been shocked, then scared. She didn't dare hope that Wally was still…Artemis gripped her sheathed knife tighter. She'd grown livid because of how much Dick's theory and idea had made sense, and panicked at the thought. Her thoughts had scattered and mixed, and her mind reeled in reaction and she'd responded to her friend with her walls up mind closed off; she couldn't let hope get in, because no matter how tough Tigress was on the outside, the house of cards that was Artemis Crock could easily topple over as soon as the ball of despair even touches the support cards. Suddenly, her phone vibrated from within a pouch on her belt, and after glancing around to make sure there were none of Lex's security around, she answered.

"Have you considered it?"

It was Dick's voice, no doubt about that.

"I'm…thinking about it."

"Good. Because I have Aqualad in on it too."

Before she could reply, however, the sound of helicopters drifted through the air, and Tigress rose from her hidden spot in the shadow from the moonlight.

"I'll talk later."

And with that, she hung up her phone and prepared to leap for the aircraft to intercept it as soon as it got close enough.

* * *

"Whoa. That's a sick iPhone, where did you go to make it like that?"

Nico shifted uncomfortably on his stool as he noticed how the blonde waiter ran a finger down his arm suggestively. Though he was admittedly cute, he was too…fake for Nico.

"Er…it was a gift." He coughed, and was relieved when a waitress brought him his food, flashing him a sweet smile – until she saw her male blonde co-worker next to him and her expression turned apologetic.

"I have a boyfriend." said the half-blood flatly, but the waiter wasn't having it, so Nico pinned him with the deadliest glare that even shook the ghouls – who didn't even had eyes – and the blonde finally fled with a squeak.

Smirking to himself, Nico dug into his semi-hot meal of a cheese burger, and was finished within ten minutes. Throwing a couple of bills on the table, he sauntered out; Nico was far too tired register where his feet had taken him when he found himself at the mouth of an alleyway.

At the end of it was an old phone booth that looked out of order, so Nico headed towards it. He'd slept in worse places, so he figured he could just spend the night there and hoped Thanatoes would message him the next target by morning.

The Son of Hades pushed at the doors, expecting it to be locked, but it slid open easily. Frowning slightly, Nico slid into the booth, glad to find it wind-proof and the ground surprisingly comfy. He was just about to doze off when suddenly a monotone voice rang loud and clear that made him freeze.

 _Recognised, Ghost King. B27._

Shit.


	2. The Intruder

**I am so sorry guys! Just been a bit lazy I guess...I was super busy all last month but I finally graduated high school! yay...now I have two years of fucking senior school to look forward to, where every fucking assessment will count...fucking fantastic. Anyways, the polls are in and it seems we have our top three choices (though I did throw in one more cause it works, you'll see ;) and Supergirl and Terra are tied...so I'll see how it goes, if it works, I'll put in both of them. ALSO, PLEASE READ THIS NEXT PART! Pls be mindful that this is a _fanfiction_ , therefore I'm am not retelling the TV show/comic storyline. Some things will be canon to what they are, but for most I'm fudging up their original backstorys and also their storyline in this fanfic will not be anything similar (well, maybe a little) to the comics/TV show. JUST SAYING, before anyone lectures me about how I got events/locations wrong or age wrong and stuff. I wouldn't say this is my best chapter, but I really hope you guys enjoy it, its like 1:30 in the freaking morning rn lol.**

 **2: The Intruder**

Even at fifty stories above the ground level, the honks from the thousands of cars polluting the New York City air still rang loud and clear. The usual traffic jam went on, the pedestrians paying the shouts of annoyed drivers no mind. The bird gesture was thrown to and fro, and some people from nearby apartments stuck their heads out to watch in amusement.

All were oblivious to the watchful eye from not three hundred metres above them.

A lone figure was perched on the ledge of the Empire State Building, not entirely at the top, but enough to have a good bird's eye view of the citizens mingling down on the streets.

 _So care-free._

The vigilante spied a teenager with headphones in, strolling the streets without a care in the world.

 _So relaxed._

A couple walked hand-and-hand down Fifth Avenue, a boy with jet black hair wearing a sea-green shirt, and a girl with honey-blonde hair and a bright orange shirt.

 _So…vulnerable._

The figure, a girl no older than the age of fifteen sighed tiredly, the fatigue from having little to no sleep for the past week finally coming through. She glanced down at the young couple down below once more, eyeing their relaxed smiles before her gaze slid to a group of laughing collage-looking students sitting within a café. She scorned them, resented them for being so weak…she envied them.

 _What I'd give to be that free…_

" _Where'd you disappear to?"_

The girl twitched slightly at the unexpected voice through her earpiece, before she huffed in annoyance. It was an old lady's voice, in a scolding tone – the kind that irritated her the most. Yet even with this unfamiliar voice, she had instantly knew whom it really was that had gotten through on her private com-link number.

"Away from you, hag. Seriously, did you not read what the doctor wrote on your check up last time? You can't keep—"

" _Yes, yes. Jeez, I know. And I thought I was the older one here._ "

"Well you sure are now. How did you even get a hold of her?"

" _No questions asked, sis."_ she said nothing, and her seventeen year old brother hiding within an eighty year old woman knew she was expecting a reply.

" _W-well…she was about to die sooner or later…"_

"You killed her?!"

" _No! No, of course not. She just got robbed and the gunman was about to shoot her when she fought for it, but_ somehow _the gunman accidently shot himself in the foot. She fainted after."_

 _"_ Joey, you can't keep doing this to yourself. Honestly, if mum—"

 _"Mum's dead, Rose."_

Hearing that extinguished the light-hearted scolding she was about to give her older brother. There was a pause, when both sibling reminisced a time and place better than where they were now…

"Any sign of him?"

" _The last I heard, he had a messy run in with that guy he got the contract off. Y'know, the contract after some guy called Percy Jackson? Yeah, apparently he stalked him for years, cause the guy kept suddenly disappearing for long periods of time, but just minutes before he was about to seal the deal he disappeared off the face of the Earth completely. Dad wasn't too happy about that; he spent the last two weeks looking, but never found him."_

 _"_ Right. And you know this how?"

" _Well—"_

"Never mind. I don't want to know."

Rose Wilson could practically _hear_ her brother's shit-eating grin through the line.

" _Anyways, knowing dad, he wasn't very impressed with what he calls a 'scam' deal, so he…er…discarded the contract and got it off his mind."_

Rose rolled her eyes (well, more like her one and only eye) underneath her mask.

"That doesn't sound like him. I don't recall _the great_ Deathstroke throwing away twenty million dollars out 'cause of frustration."

" _Must've been too annoying. You know he's been on that contract for over two years?"_

"Uh, _yeah_. I remember him complaining about it."

She heard a sigh through the line, and she huffed one herself.

"Look, how 'bout we each grab a bite, _separately,_ and we'll meet at the subway near the Museum of Natural History. We'll catch the first midnight trip to Gotham."

The sound of an old lady spluttering was the weirdest yet most humouring sound Rose had heard since she and Joey ran from their family home in Atlanta last month. She still remembered the distant sounds of her own screams, the warmth of her own blood streaming down her face like tears…tears from her ravaged-beyond-saving left eye. The pain had broken the effects of the serum that poisoned her mind; she remembered the revelation of what she'd done when she came to…

 _"What did I do?"_

 _The clang from her blood-coated katana did not beat the ringing in her ears as she fell to her knees. Tears leaked from her right eye; blood from the other. "What did you make me DO?!"_

 _Her gaze dropped to her blood-soaked hands; they were shaking beyond control. Her frantic gaze leapt to her father, looming before her. The tip of the syringe in his hand still dripped with the left over serum; his cold eyes gleamed with awe and…pride._

 _"You truly are my daughter…"_

Rose shuddered as she pushed the memories aside, a hand coming up instinctively to feel the eye patch beneath her mask. Her bandage was still on – a requirement the doctor had insisted that she keep until the end of the month – three weeks away. She still struggled in combat, not quite confident to take up to more than two thugs at a time with her vision-impairment still confusing and unfamiliar.

 _Losing an important body function is the only talent amongst the Wilson family,_ she thought bitterly as she recalled her own brother's muted existence.

Joey was only able to speak when taken over someone's body, yet even _that_ had its limits.

"Look, I know the Bats and the Joker runs the city, but think about it. It'll be the last place he'll look."

She could imagine her brother pursing his old lady lips, and the image almost got her to smirk…almost.

" _OK. See you then, sis. Good luck with food."_

"Luck? That word means nothing to me."

* * *

"Is it always like this?"

"Pretty much."

Static whistled loudly as the two bounded and winged gargoyle-like creatures were lifted into the flying bike that was transformed from Sphere.

"Dios mios, am I ready for bed." yawned Blue Beetle as he leaned against the side of the bike.

"Anyone seen Lagoon boy?" asked Wonder Girl with a frown as she re-coiled her lasso.

"He got a call from his new fish phone and left early, went all 'Merlin's Beard!' and was gone."

Wonder Girl raised a brow, before she glanced around, eyes darting in confusion.

"Wait, what about Rob—oh."

Robin, the last member of Gamma team (Lagoon boy not being counted in this case) that wasn't ready for take off was crouched on the ground. His gloved fingers pinched the gravel, eyes narrowing before he dropped the sample into a zip-lock bag.

"You ready, Tim?"

The fourteen-year old vigilante looked up, a frown creased into his features.

"The gravel here doesn't match the type surrounding the area. I'm beginning to think wherever these things came from probably brought traces of their home world here, which I think I can have a closer look at when I get back to the Batcave."

Wonder girl stretched out a hand to her boyfriend of three months, her sky blue eyes studying his feature intently as he rose.

"Thanks."

"You haven't slept in days," she noted.

Despite how clueless and ditzy Wonder Girl seemed on the outside, she was actually very intelligent, observing and analysing everything within the span of milliseconds.

"Well—"

"You haven't eaten either! Tim! You can't keep doing this, it's unhealthy."

"Cass, just relax. I think I've eaten a few bites or two."

"Think? You're coming with me to the Watchtower, bird boy, and you're not leaving until you eat three bowls of whatever M'gann's cooking and be at _least_ three hours' in bed."

"Gross. I really didn't need to hear that," said Blue Beetle with a cringe.

Him and Static both roared with laughter as both Robin and Wonder girl turned beet-red.

"I-I wasn't…I d-didn't mean…!"

" _Robin, do you copy? How did the mission go?"_

The four sobered immediately at the sound of Batgirl's voice, and Robin held up his wrist communicator and projected the holographic image of Batgirl from the Watchtower.

"The targets are out cold."

" _Good. Drop them by the back door of the Hall of Justice. Aqualad will take care of them."_

"Copy that."

An hour later, the two creatures were off their bike, and the tired heroes headed for the nearest zeta-tube that wasn't in the Hall of Justice, lest they be spotted by some of the nosy reporters that seemed to camp outside the entrance of the Hall of Justice in a vain attempt to catch a hero off-guard. Just as Gamma squad arrived at the Watchtower, Miss Martian was already on her way out.

"Not staying the night?" asked Robin.

The Martian smiled tiredly.

"No. I think I'm going to sleep on my Earth apartment tonight. Sleeping up in space just gives me headaches sometimes."

Static opened him mouth to speak, but her chuckle broke him off.

"Yes, Virgil. I did leave some rice and curry for all of you."

"Thanks, M'gann. Man, I love this team!"

And Robin swore Vigil nearly sped off as fast as Wally used to at the sound of food.

 _Wally…_ Robin shook his head, clearing it of unwanted thoughts and emotions. Yet he still remembered the day it happened…but also what happened hours later. He felt his face heat up when the memories came back to him vividly.

"Hey, you OK?"

Robin smiled as he took Cassie's hand and kissed her on the cheek.

"Nothing, let's go get some food."

Robin was never one to make a move, being too shy, so it was rare when it happened and also made Cassie blush deeply.

"You two are just so cute!" gushed M'gann like a good-natured older sister, before she turned and headed for the zeta-tube.

The four young heroes were out of costume (Tim still having sun-glasses on) and were enjoying their late-night dinner when Batgirl entered.

"Robin, I just got word from Gotham that there was a robbery at Ace. Batman can't make it since he's still at Metropolis sorting that Lex thing out with Superman. You're in charge of the Watchtower."

"What? Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, Robin. You've got to rest," chided Cassie.

Robin expected Batgirl to disagree, but she nodded with her.

"Listen to your girlfriend, Robin. I'm only going to be gone for a few hours. There's no one else but you four here at the moment. All I'm asking is for you to make sure nothing crazy happens when I'm gone, or else we'd both be in deep shit. Alright?"

"OK. No problem."

Tim did want to help Batgirl, but he could feel his own fatigue through aching joints and knew Cassie only cared about him. Once Batgirl was gone, an awkward silence settled over the group, before a grin suddenly split over Virgil's face.

"You know that that means?"

Blue Beetle, halfway through a spoon full paused and stared confusedly.

"Party time!"

Virgil lifted his bowl and tipped his head back, scooping up the rest of his dinner. He was just about finished when a monotone voice suddenly rang through the Tower loud and clear.

 _Recognised, Ghost King. B27._

* * *

Nico groaned as his hand rose to his pounding head. He'd only remembered being in that thing twice, and that was nearly six years ago. He shook his head, eyes squeezing shut in an attempt to stop his headache from worsening before he slowly opened his eyes…to see the tip of a bo-staff pointing at his chest.

"What the…" he slowly looked up, to see a fourteen-year old looking boy wearing sun glasses point said weapon at him.

Next to him stood another boy at a similar age, only with chocolate coloured skin and dreadlocks kept in together by a blue cap worn backwards. Streaks of electricity sparked between his fingers that were pointed at him. He didn't even get a good look at the blue thing next to them or the girl on the sun glasses boy's other side before the bo-staff inched closer.

"Who are you, and how did you hack into the League database?"

Nico frowned up at him.

"I…didn't?" he said slowly.

"I've never seen you before, and I've been here for three years now." said a girl's voice, and Nico turned to look at her.

Something about this girl's electricity blue eyes seemed familiar…and he swore he'd seen her before.

"Wait a second, are you in the League?"

Nico frowned in confusion.

"You mean the League of Justice or whatever you call it? No. I…is Di-Robin here?"

"You're talking to him," said the boy directly in front of him.  
Now Nico's frown deepened.

"Really?"

With a raised brow, Nico studied the supposed Robin's stern face with a smirk.

"I thought you'd be taller."

Blue Beetle had a hard time trying to read this guy, especially his beetle. One couldn't say that Jamie Reynes was the best at reading people like a book, but his beatle certainly was.

 _Scanning,_ a few seconds later, _scan complete. Estimation six foot two in height, male, almost human._

'Almost? How can he be almost human?'

 _His heat-signature reads normal human, but there is a particular aura around him that does not match with the regular human._

Ever since Zatanna's cleansing ceremony several months back to wipe Blue's beatle of all outer programming, she had also unknowingly given it the ability to detect mystical aspects of human nature such as one's aura.

'Does it match with a meta?'

A moment passed, two, before the beatle spoke once more.

 _No. This male does not match a regular meta-gene human. However…_

Suddenly, Jamie felt his head tilt a little on its own accord.

"Dude! I told you not to do that again! It's weird."

It was only then when he'd realised he'd spoken aloud, and his teammates, including the mysterious young adult on the ground by the zeta-tube was staring at him.

 _Apologies, but my sensors detect a simular aura…one that matches his own._

'Really? Who?'

Jamie felt his own eyes move against his will, before his gaze landed on Wonder Girl, currently speaking to the unknown person.

'Wonder girl? But she's an Amazon, right? I thought that was just an all girl's club.'

"Are you sure you're Robin?"

"Yes." said Tim through gritted teeth.

"And you're seventeen?"

At that, the Boy Wonder frowned.

"No. I'm not."

"Ah. Right. I'm after the other one then. Is he around?"

"Do you mean Nightwing?"

"Is that what he goes by these days? Jeez. You superheroes change your names faster than my cousin eats pancakes, and pancakes are his favourite food."

"Wonder girl, bind him. I'll call Nightwing."

"Mask, off."

Nico was surprised; he must've subconsciously conjured up his mask without realising it.

"Uh, secret identity. No can do."

The girl narrowed her eyes, "I'm not asking here, you…uh…creepy emo guy."

Nico prepared himself, ready to shadow-travel away when a gold whip was wrapped around him, effectively anchoring his arms to his sides. He tried to teleport away, but he couldn't seem to.

"Don't even try to run away, this is the same lasso Wonder Woman uses."

"Wait—"

"What's all this about?" came a familiar voice that sent heads turning. "Nightwing! It's good to see you!"

"It's nice to see you too, Wonder Girl. Now who's this creepy dude who says he knows me…"

Nightwing trailed off, his eyes widening behind his mask, while Nico raised a brow, unimpressed.

"Should we gag him?" asked Tim, but when he didn't get a response, he turned to look at the original Boy Wonder, who looked like he was about to…burst into hysterical laughter.

"No, don't, or else he'll throw a hissy fit. Just free him. Don't worry, he's fine."

With as much dignity Nico could muster, he stood as Wonder girl reluctantly released him, and faced Nightwing.

"I see you haven't changed." smirked Nightwing while Nico scowled.

"I didn't come here on purpose, just slept in the wrong phone booth."

At that, Nightwing couldn't hold it in and laughed, the first time he'd laughed genuinely since the incident three months ago.

"Look, why don't I introduce who they are first. This is Robin, that's Wonder girl, Blue Beetle and Static. This is Ghost King. Lower your mask, dude."

Nico glared, but Nightwing shrugged.

"It's not like they'll recognise you or anything."

Nico sighed, and waved away his mask. It only took a moment, before Nightwing cringed as he suddenly made the link just as Cassie suddenly squealed.

"Oh. My. GODS! Are you really…? Oh my gods I can't believe this is happening! I mean I've only been at camp a few times during the summer when things tone down but like I've heard so much about you! Everyone talks—"

"Whoa. Hold on, who are you again?"

"Sorry. I'm Cassie Sandsmark. Daughter of Zeus."

 **A/N Yeah...not the best chapter...oh well. What's done is done lel. Don't forget to go check out my band and like and subscribe! (link at the bottom of my profile) Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas as well guys if I don't update before then! :)**


	3. The Secretary

**Hello Hello! Long time no see! Now, to those of you who would like to read my long explanation of why I took so long, keep going. If you're bored/not interested, just skip straight to the unbolded words (btw I've added chapter names from now on just cause why not ;) Ok, so I'm really sorry for not updating in a really long time, but I feel like I need to explain this. For those of you who aren't from Canberra, ACT (where I live), you probably don't know how our school system works. High school is pretty much the same until you reach senior school (which is what I'm in now fml) where pretty much every single fucking assessment counts, like counts towards this thing called an ATAR which is a score you get at the end of the two years of senior school that pretty much tells you which uni you can get in. If you get a low ATAR, your life will pretty much be screwed if you want to get into a high ATAR course at university. Coming from super strict family my dad is literally pushing me so hard right now to work hard to get a good ATAR, because if as I mentioned before: every. single. fucking. assessment. counts. like if you fuck one up you've pretty much fucked up your whole score (ok like its not that bad but its pretty bad) and yeah just stuff like that. so I'm doing that fun stuff right now, which is why I barely have time to do anything but I will try my best to update asap. like i get free periods now so yeah i will try to write in any free time where I'm not studying. Sorry this may not be the best chapter as i had a maths test like two days ago, but I really really hope you enjoy it anyways despite the sloppy writing! :)**

 **3: The Secretary**

"This is ridiculous."

The King of Olympus glanced up from listlessly surveying the intricate ceiling of his throne room. Well, his _new_ one. He _swore_ the detailed star-like pattern carved into the ceiling marble seemed to be moving, as if metallic rays were actually beaming out of it.

"Oh, my."

"What is it, Aphrodite?"

The Goddess of Beauty had a hand over her mouth, as if in mock-horror, only it seemed genuine. Hephaestus pressed a button on a metal gauntlet he wore, and the small television him and his wife were watching privately expanded out into a widescreen mortal cinema-screen sized screen. Hephaestus then twisted a knob on his gauntlet that increased the volume. It was set to CNN news.

" _We are live from Central Park, New York, for the unveiling of the new statue of Superman."_

 _"Yes, exciting news indeed. Was there a statue here before this was built? I vaguely recall there being another."_

 _"Yes, Cat. The statue of the Greek God Zeus used to be here, but it was knocked down to build the new one of Superman after he single-handedly took down Parasite after an escape from Belle Reve Maximum Security Prison."_

Hephaestus glanced up from the screen at Zeus, whose knuckles turned white from tightening his grip on the arms of his throne. His jaw was clenched, eyes narrowed in dismay at the mortal news.

"That statue was built in commemoration of our aid against the damned Earth mother." He said, through gritted teeth.

" _Sir, do you think what they're doing is right? Knocking down a statue of Zeus and replacing it with Superman?"_

The snot-faced man snorted into the screen, a sneer on his face.

" _Heh, of course! Why do we even have a statue of some stupid Greek God here from dumb stories? If he really exists he should get off his ass and contribute to society. Superman deserves this statue, 'cause he actually_ earned _it."_

 _"Thank you, sir. Oh! It looks like the mayor of New York is here to unveil it, and Superman himself has shown up!"_

There was a crash, and sound disappeared all together as the golden cup that was previously next to Zeus' throne collided with the speakers. No one dared to speak as the sound of the clash rang through the room.

"They…they dare…"

"The mortal dies."

Hephaestus turned to the source of the voice; Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom.

"Hey now sis, and I thought you were the reasonable one," chided Dionysus, but the god's eyes were ablaze with fury.

"After all I've done, yet they still worship that…that _thing._ "

"Really, Father, you expect the mortals to worship us as they did in the old days? How can they believe in stories, when the _Superman_ is actually there, doing the unbelievable?" said Artemis, whose original intention was visit Olympus when Zeus had summoned her, but had arrived during the news report.

"We stopped Gaia before destroyed the world as we know it," said Hephaestus.

"Do the mortals know that? No, only our children, and their children, and the children of their children and so on. Does it really matter if the mortals know? Yes, because it will threaten our very existence."

At the words, Zeus' fury seemed to lesson, and now his look was troubled.

"Yet without their worship, we will cease," said Hera stonily.

"The half-bloods, they—"

"They are not enough. For eons we have still had small groups of mortal worshippers who still believed, and we still let them believe. Yet those numbers are fading along with our names. We are replaced by mortals who possess godly powers, worshipped _like_ gods."

"Enough."

The sharp command sliced through the air, and Hera and Artemis fell silent. Zeus pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out an irritated sigh.

"Fid!"

"Your Grace!"

A middle-aged man suddenly appeared right in front of Zeus with a low bow, just bordering on mocking.

"You bring a mortal into our court?" Athena had a disapproving frown.

"I am no mortal, your excel—"

"And you dare speak without permission?"

"Silence, Athena." hissed Zeus with a glare.

"He is no mortal, his name is Fid, a godling sired from a descendant of Morpheus and Selene."

"Selene? Truly? How is that possible? I thought—"

"She sleeps, yes, but he is over three thousand years old."

Athena frowned at the man, who was scribbling into a notepad.

"Yet he is old."

"He did not reach immortality until his fiftieth birthday in mortal years."

Artemis nodded, "It is known the offspring of a fading titan and a half-blood only have a fifty precent chance of immortality, and even lesser when it is the offspring of a fading titan and a descendant of a half-blood."

"Why is he here?" asked Athena, a frown still on her features.

"He is my new scribe and adviser. The idea of it was from Jason, and I happened to find him among the courtyards of Olympus. Now if you'll excuse us," Zeus waved a hand, and the King of the Gods and the godling, Fid, vanished within a blink of an eye.

* * *

Nico blinked once, twice, the words sinking in after a moment of awkward silence.

"Cassie Sandsmark…I think I've heard of you from Jason." Cassie squealed, and Nico covered his ears while she jumped like a little girl at the sight of ice cream.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe Nico di Angelo has heard of me before! Me! Cassie!"

At Nico's bewildered look, Cassie flushed.

"Sorry! I just get really excited, I mean, I've heard so much about you! And Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase! Oh, Percabeth for the win! And the whole war with—"

"Whoa there, what? Percabeth? And did you not forget the rules from camp about keeping secrets?"

"Don't worry, I've already told Tim. Oh! This is my boyfriend, Tim AKA. Robin."

Nightwing sighed while Blue Beetle grimaced.

"Oh crap, sorry. Pretend you didn't hear that."

At that, Nico had to smirk.

"Don't worry, I worked out who _he_ was within a month of knowing him." He said, gesturing to Nightwing.

"You super heroes aren't the most subtle people out there."

"So _you're_ the guy who joined the Team for a day and left." exclaimed Static out of nowhere, and Nico raised a brow.

"Yes, and it seems like I'm going to be here for less than that."

"Wait." said Nightwing.

"Nico, I told you five years ago and I'll tell you again. We'll always have a spot on the team for you."

Dick reached up and peeled off his domino mask, his signature smirk still on his face.

"Well, if you're up for it."

Nico was about to decline, but then he remembered when he stood at the cave, five years ago, with the Team, where they did not judge him. He had actually felt like he truly belonged. He had mentored the new campers just a few months after the end of the war, but the job grew tedious and several other campers had taken over the role. Will was off to the London Conservatorium of Music, Jason, Piper, Annabeth and Percy were off going to collage in New Rome, and while they visited occasionally, they barely talked when they were around. Leo and Calypso were still on their trip around the world after they crashed landed at Camp half-blood four months after the end of the war. Frank and Hazel were in San Francisco, Hazel finishing off her last year in high school while Frank had joined the military. Everyone had moved on from the past, so why not Nico? He only had a few souls left to collect, before he would be paid in drachmas for his work with Thanatoes.

"I'll think about it." He said.

Dick rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"You literally said you would 'think about it' five years ago. Is it a yes, or a no?"

Nico recalled Wonder Woman's words, and glanced at the other half-blood in front of him, who wore a pleading expression on her face.

"Fine. I'll join your team, but only casually. Don't expect me to be here to fight a whole war with you or something."

"Sounds good enough to me." said Dick with a grin.

* * *

She was running, though she didn't know from _what_ , just that she had to get away. Her legs were moving on its own accord, a blur of limbs along the forest ground. The wind was blowing in the opposite direction she was running, yet every time it lashed at her skin, it stung so much she nearly collapsed. She was covered in cuts and bruises, and not just from running through the dense forest with branches and sticks out, ready to slice her skin to pieces.

Her vision was a blur, mind fuzzy as she tried to recall how she had ended up in this situation. She had woken up in a clearing, a perfect crater around her. Her clothes were covered in mud; two huge metallic handcuffs that covered the entirety of her two hands were linked together by a heavy chain. Her feet were similarly chained. She had felt weak, the chains so heavy it was like they were anchors, and it was only when she tried to lift her head that she discovered a thick collar around her neck, so heavy it made sitting up impossible. That was when she heard the excited shouts of men, yelling in a language she didn't understand. They had burst into the clearing with devices that emitted so much light, her dizziness returned a hundred-forth and with a strength she didn't know she possessed, she picked up a nearby fallen tree trunk and threw it at them. They screamed, ducking for cover. That was when she stumbled up and ran.

The men were long gone now, the bright things they held and the shouts hundreds of metres behind her. She didn't know how long she had run, but came to a slow, and an eventual stop as she caught her breath. Sweat beaded her forehead and neck as she bent over, the chains slowly becoming heavy once more. The girl contemplated smashing her cuffs together to break them, when suddenly, a loud bang rang out from the bush to her left, and pain erupted from her shoulder, followed by a stinging sensation.

She cried out, her cuffed and chained hands coming up instinctively but were futile against the small dart that had pierced her skin. Her vision blurred, eyelids drooping as she fell to her knees, and just as darkness took her, words in her native language instinctively fell from her lips: " _Galfore…K'norfka…help me…_ "

* * *

"Huh, and I thought Mars was always just a desert planet with nothing but cactus and huts."

"You're half right." Miss Martian said with a small smile at Superboy's cluelessness as she and the rest of Alpha team headed towards a Martian village on the edge of the sand dunes on Mars.

"You sure that's a good place to park the ship, sis?" asked Beast Boy as he glanced back at the Bio-ship that had shrunken back into a pod.

"We shouldn't be that long, I mean, Green Beetle sent out that distress call months ago, but nothing's happened since. The village looks okay."

"Looks can be deceiving," said Miss Martian, just as they reached the village gates.

" _Halt! Who goes there_?" a harsh voice suddenly invaded the three heroes' mind, not unlike how Miss Martian telepathically communicates.

" _We are here to see B'arzz O'oomm, known to us as Green Beetle. We were sent by the Justice League."_

Two guards suddenly appeared just in front of the gates, in their true green Martian form and wielding a spear in hand. They were right feet tall, with slashes as clothing. They stared at the trio with beady blue eyes, expressions blank yet cold.

" _You may enter."_ They said, after a moment.

Superboy could not tell which had spoken, as they looked exactly the same, and they both stared at the crest on his shirt. He huffed self-consciously as the guards turned and opened the gates.

It was mid-day, and most of the inhabitants of the village had stayed indoors as this was the hottest time of the day, with all the heat of the sun pressing down onto Mars. The stray Martians who were outside were milling about; most didn't even give the heroes a second glance.

"Here, his house is just through the alley and to the right."

"You sure this is the place?" asked Superboy as they stopped in front of the hut. It was medium-sized compared the rest, with large holes where windows would be, but with no glass and just a curtain over it.

The walls were dark orange, just the simple colour of hardened clay and worn bricks.

"Hello?" said Miss Martian tentatively as she knocked on the large wooden door.

"Come in!" called a voice from inside the hut.

B'arzz O'oomm, otherwise known as Green Beetle greeted the heroes with an easy smile as he stood.

"M'gann, it is good to see you."

He was currently in his human form, in a suit and tie and looking like your average middle-aged man going to work, only his skin was green.

"How are you doing?" she asked just as Beast Boy shut the door and cool air blew from an air conditioner on the wall; its modern design clashing with the other simple stone table and chairs.

"I am doing well, thanks to your Justice League's generosity and the rehabilitation they were able to provide me."

"That's good to hear. We were sent here because you sent a distress call?" B'arzz's smile dropped, and he frowned.

"Distress call? I do not understand."

The three heroes glanced at each other.

"You sent a distress call out just a few months back, but we were caught up. We came as soon as we could." said Beast Boy.

B'arzz's frown deepened as he sank back down onto his bed.

"I do not recall sending out a distress call to the Justice League, or to your team for that matter."

B'arzz turned to the bedside table and opened the drawer, where he took out a walkie-talkie like device. As he did this, the green scarab on his back did not go unnoticed by M'gann, but confusion flooded the young Martian girl as the eyes of the scarab suddenly glowed red. She was just about to question the other Martian, but he had already turned to face them once more, the scarab out of sight.

"See? I have not touched my…"

"Green Beetle?"

The communicator dropped to the ground with a clank, and B'arzz let out a pained groan.

"B'arzz?"

M'gann rushed forth to the hero, whom had broken out in cold sweat; his hands had begun to shake, and his human form seemed to be melting. M'gann placed her hands onto his shoulder, but she yelped and leapt backward. She lifted her hand, and smoke drifted from it, the surface of her palm was still red-hot from the burn.

"His skin is burning hot, literally!"

Smoke began to rise from B'arzz's heated skin, and he had reverted back into his green Martian state.

"B'arzz, are you okay? What's wrong?" asked Superman.

Suddenly, the Green Beetle let out a pained roar, his beetle armour sprouting onto his arm and forming blade. With a swipe, his blade lashed out at the bedside table, splitting the clay into two and the lantern on it crashed onto the floor of his hut. Superboy balled his fists as he got into fighting stance, while Beast Boy morphed into a gorilla, ready to strike.

"Wait!" cried M'gann. The two heroes turned to look at her, to see her burnt hand stretched out before her.

"His mind is in…pain. There's someone else…someone else is in there! He's fighting them now!"

"Someone else?" said Superboy.

As if in answer, B'arzz's hands flew to his hand, and the heels of his palms dug into his temples. His shaking grew worse, just as a hoarse whisper suddenly drifted into the three's mind.

" _He…he's here…_ "

"Who? Who's he?"

" _I…he's…he's coming for all of us…he's on his way…please, no!_ "

"B'arzz—"

Suddenly, the green Martian let out an ear-piercing shriek. He began to thrash uncontrollably on his once neat bed. Two guards burst into the hut, and they didn't even hesitate as they sprang forth and seized B'arzz with gloved hands with practiced strides. One of the two guards then reached out with hand gloved in metal, and pressed his fore finger into B'arzz's forehead.

" _Be still_."

The flat command echoed within Superboy, Beast Boy and Miss Martian's mind, and Green Beetle stilled for a moment, just as the other guard lifted his baton and slammed it into the back of his head, promptly knocking him out. With a shudder, the two guards lowered the unconscious hero onto the bed.

"Has this happened before?"

The guards did not look cold and expressionless this time, rather, a look of unease was on their faces.

" _Two months ago, just a few weeks after he came back. We used his communicator to try and get help from the mighty Justice League, but all they sent were you three, two months after the incident._ "

"Hey! We were just—"

"Superboy, calm down. It's fine. We're deeply sorry for not getting here earlier as planned, but you must tell us. What was it like the first time?"

The guards glanced at each other, and M'gann could sense their hidden fear.

" _It started at the marketplace, when he suddenly started screaming in a language no Martian has ever heard before. It was an ancient tongue, and he spoke it loud and fast. His eyes were glowing dark red, his movements were forced and stuttered_."

"I sensed another within his mind."

" _Correct. The day at the marketplace, he was possessed by another_."

There was a gasp, which was from Beast Boy as the shock caused him to revert back into his human form.

"Possessed? Like a demon?"

" _We do not know whom or what it was, but we could all sense one thing that radiated off his possessed form like a…like a flame. Evil. Pure evil came off him, as if all the light in his soul had been consumed by an evil so pure and dark that not even the brightest light can cleanse it_."

"Was that all he did? Scream like a madman?" asked Superboy.

The guards regarded the young hero with narrowed eyes.

" _His arm turned into a knife, and he carved something into the side of the fountain in the middle of the village square just before we knocked him out_."

"Where is it?"

" _Follow me_."

The guard led the heroes out of the hut and down the street before arriving at the village square where the markets usually took place.

" _He rushed over here and carved something just here, but we do not understand the symbol_."

"May we have a look?"

The guard nodded, and the trio approached the fountain warily.

"It's like the letter S, only jagged, with lines through it."

"Could it be something against Superman?"

"It's highly possible, though why? Who would possess Green Beetle just to carve in a poor graffiti of Superman on the side of a fountain?"

"Would you mind if we carve out this section of the fountain so we can investigate further?"

" _You may._ "

"And we'll take him with us, so the Justice League can keep him under supervision."

The guards nodded and turned back to the direction of the hut.

"Do you think it could be Vandal Savage?" said M'gann once they were gone.

Superboy and Beast boy were quiet for a moment before the former spoke, and his voice was soft but held a deadly edge to it as his temper rose at the mere mention of his name, "If that little fucker shows his face again, I'm going to beat him up so hard he'll never smirk that smug smile of his ever again."

* * *

On the sand dunes of Mars, two lone figures stood and watched as a red bio-ship took off into orbit.

"They are taking him out of his reach." said one; his raspy voice could barely be heard over the growing sand storm.

"It matters not, my friend. The message will be sent," said the other, bigger and bulkier than the first speaker rubbed his scarred hands together.

"All is going according to the plan."

 **A/N Props to anyone who knows who the girl who was running is ;) (hint hint google is a useful tool but spoilers for the story lel) Also, if you didn't see the message I put up earlier about my blog, I now have a blog for requests and questions about my fan fiction (link on my PROFILE) where you guys can ask me questions about this and I will answer them. I will also be like putting reasons why I'm not updating there and maybe even have previews of the chapters there too. Thanks for reading as well! :)**

 **EDIT: i just re-watched the last few episodes of YJ: Invasion and realised I actually fucked up here - yes I know green beetle lost his beetle since black beetle destroyed it, but for the sake of saving me from changing everything, please just go with it!**


	4. The Whistleblower

**HOLY SHIT! I'm so sorry guys for not updating in like so fucking long, but long story short, you know the ATAR thing I told you about and how important it was with my grades? yeah i fucked up really hard last semester (like i nearly failed 3 subjects cause i fucked up my exams) so i have been crazy busy trying to not fuck up anymore lol. Anyways, 201 FOLLOWERS? ARE YOU SHITTING ME? I am humbled guys, really, I didn't expect this, from a sequel to DKaGC, no less! Thank you guys so much for your continual support for my stories! I promise I will try my absolute hardest to update, but unfortunately for me school will have to be a priority at the moment ;_; Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!**

 **4: The Whistleblower**

"Finally," a series of relieved groans filled the classroom as the school bell rang, signalling the end of the day.

"Miss Markov," screeched the teacher at the front of the room just as the students were filing out.

"Shit T, what did you do this time?"

"I don't know," said the girl, otherwise known as Terra Markov huffed in irritation as she stood from her desk reluctantly.

"I'll wait for you outside," said Terra's best friend of two years, and Terra could only nod with dread as she headed towards the desk at the front of the room.

"Yes, Mrs. Joleen?" she asked as politely as she could, all the while staring longingly at the other students in the hallway, getting their bags from their lockers to head home.

"Here at National City High, we expect strict punctuality and the upmost discipline from our students!"

Mrs. Joleen – otherwise known as the Mrs. Jolmean by the students – eyed Terra's stained blouse and dirt infested fingernails with distain.

"I'm sorry, Miss, I promise I will be on time tomorrow," said Terra, feigning sincerity.

Mrs. Joleen glared at the teen for a moment, before she turned with a huff.

"Get out of my sight."

Terra complied immediately, dashing out of the classroom and straight down the hallway, where her best friend joined her.

"What was that all about?"

"Jolmean was being a bitch as usual, giving me shit for my clothes and stuff." "That sucks."

Terra agreed with a sigh of annoyance as she reached her locker and unceremoniously yanked it open. There was a pause, before Terra rolled her eyes and turned toward her companion.

"I know that look, Kara, I can feel it on me,"

Kara smiled sheepishly and darted her gaze to anything but her friend.

"Well…I was wondering if you would maybe…"

"Spit it out,"

"Do you want to come with me to Jay's party? Please?! Alex has work tonight so she can't come with me, and I really don't want to go by myself. Pleasseeee T!"

Terra's action of taking a textbook out of her locker paused in mid air as she turned towards her friend with a frown.

"Danvers, are you seriously asking me – of all people – if I want to sneak out of my god-forsaken foster home hours after curfew, to come with you to a party hosted by one of the hottest guys in our year, with the invite list full of underage drinkers?"

There was a pause of tense silence, when the two 16-year-olds stared each other down, before the moment was broken when matching grins appeared on both of the girls' faces.

"Hell yeah!"

* * *

… _What do you mean?_

Nico jerked awake, scrambling off the couch he had slept on as the horrendous noise that some considered to be 'music' continued to play. When his mind and eyesight came into focus, the half-blood finally registered the noise that was blaring from his phone.

"Leo, you little bitch," he growled as he patted down his body in search of his hPhone.

 _Of all the songs he could've picked as my ringtone…_ there were times when Nico wished that Thanatos would one day text him the name of the gods' damned melo-dramatic pop singer, and he would do the deed in record time.

When Nico finally answered, he was met with a droning buzz. The Son of Hades huffed impatiently as he glanced at his screen; _You have (3) missed calls from Reyna_ , _(1)_ _new message from Thanatos_. Nico knew what _that_ message would be about.

"Never knew you were a Bieber fan," came a female's voice behind him.

Nico turned with a scowl, and was mildly surprised to see a blond girl standing there, leaning against the doorframe to the lounge room that was 'strictly forbidden to the Jusitice League oldies', as Kid Flash liked to put it.

"I didn't believe it when they told me you came back, but here you are," said Artemis.

"Here I am," Nico didn't remember having anymore than two or three conversations with the archer…well, ex-archer, it seemed.

There was as pause of awkward silence, in which Nico sat and stared expectantly at Artemis who seemed to be frowning at him, her gaze calculating yet far away, as if she was deep in thought.

"Um…"

Artemis jerked as if woken up, and her eyes registered back on Nico.

"Nightwing wants you in the mission room."

Nico raised a brow, before he stood reluctantly and sighed.

"Fine, but got any food around here? Speaking of food, did you and the what's-his'-face get together? The redhead dude who loves food?" he said dryly.

However, Nico grew bemused when he saw the change in Artemis' demeanour. There was a flash of an intense emotion behind her dark eyes, before they hardened considerably as she glared at him.

"Don't speak of him that way. Superboy was right, you're still an asshole. I don't care what powers you have, but I don't know what Nightwing sees in you."

Nico was slightly taken aback, and knew he probably said the wrong thing. As Artemis turned to leave, Nico stood abruptly.

"Wait,"

With a heavy sigh, the Son of Hades ran his hands tiredly through his inky black bird's nest of hair.

"Look, I'm sorry for whatever I said that provoked you. I realise I'm not in the best mood right now and I guess I should probably be less of a dick."

Artemis paused at the doorway, and there was a pause, when her shoulders slumped and Nico heard her exhale a breath of weariness.

"I'm sorry for lashing out, that was uncalled for,"

Not knowing how to reply, Nico stayed silent. It was sudden, but Nico began to feel a wave of strong emotions coming off the ex-archer in waves.

"Have you been watching the news at all?"

"Technology really isn't my thing," he said.

Artemis turned slowly, her eyes downcast, and Nico noticed her hands were clenched into fists.

"Four months ago…we had a mission to save the world from total annihilation,"

Nico raised an eyebrow, _been there,_ he thought as he waited with surprising patience for Artemis to continue.

"There was an…an accident, you could say, and Wally…Wally he—"

 _Loss, anguish_ …that was what it was, the all-too-familiar emotions Nico was far too acquainted with.

"I'm sorry for your loss," said the Son of Hades awkwardly.

Something glittered in Artemis' eyes, and she swallowed audibly as silence fell over the rec room. The unfamiliar feeling of sympathy washed over Nico as he recognised her grief, his own memories surfacing as he recalled a girl with the same midnight black hair and olive skin as his own. Her hair was tied into braids just like a hunter's, a silver quiver and bow strapped to her back; the weapons of the Hunters of Artemis.

 _Bianca,_ he thought, fighting to suppress the torrent of sadness that followed. _Has it already been six years already?_

"Wait," Artemis' voice snapped him out of his reverie, and Nico glanced up at her.

"Your father is Hades right? The God of Death?"

"Well technically—"

"Yeah I know, God of the Underworld but close enough. You have the power to talk to ghosts, don't you?"

Nico knew where this was going, and this was one of the reasons why he had grown to hate being a child of Hades.

"You couldn't possibly—"

"I know what you're going to ask," he said, glancing at anything but the heroine.

"I can't let you talk to him,"

"Why not?"

Nico closed his eyes, his lips thinning to a straight line.

"Because it will only do more harm than good. If I let you talk to him all it's going to do it hurt the both of you more, and honestly, you'll end up hating me more than you already do."

Artemis was quiet, before she let out a shuddering breath.

"I understand."

"Great, because I'm starving." he said, trying to change the subject before it got too close to home.

He headed out to the mission room, brushing past Artemis and was about to step out of earshot when she spoke.

"Could you at least...see if he's ok?"

"If he died a heroic death, he's probably in Elysium which is the party central for the Underworld."

At Artemis' silence, Nico felt a pang of empathy.

"I'll tell him, all right?"

And Nico swore he heard a muttered 'thank you', but was gone before the shadows of his past could catch up to him.

* * *

"This is Ghost King, and he will be the new addition to Omega squad."

Nico stared at the heroes around him, some he knew, and most he'd never even seen before in his life. He was surprised that some of the _famous_ Justice League members were present, like Batman (who seemed to have a permanent death glare on his face whenever he regarded Nico), a guy completely made of silver metal with red boots and none-other than Wonder Woman, who gave him a small smile when she had arrived.

"Omega Squad? But I thought there were only three—"

"You are correct, Lagoon Boy, we've added a new squad. Ghost King won't be working alone in Omega Squad; he'll be accompanied by Nightwing and myself." explained Aqualad patiently.

"Nightwing? He's back?" exclaimed Beast Boy excitedly.

"Sure am," said the original Boy Wonder himself just as he entered the mission room, and Nico couldn't help but notice Batman's glare darken impossibly at the sight of his former sidekick.

 _Must've been a fallout_ , thought the Son of Hades just as Batgirl and the 'red-booted metal dude' (as Nico liked to call him) began to distribute the missions. He'd already zoned out on the details, before he felt a sudden vibration from his hPhone.

 _Reception? Up here?_ Granted, Nico had yet to get used to the idea that he was no longer on the planet anymore when he was up in this Watchtower, but the fact that he still had good enough connection with the Hi-Fi to receive a text message astounded him.

He pulled out the black device, and it only took one glance at the sender of the text before he knew what to do.

"We're headed to Africa, apparently some weird alien shit going on there," came Nightwing's voice suddenly, but Nico was quick to think of an out.

"Sorry, I'm going to have to raincheck you here. I have some business to take care of."

Aqualad and Nightwing both glanced at him in confusion as he pulled his hood over his head and conjured his shadow-mask.

"You only just got here…?"

"Sorry, family thing," was the reason the demigod gave, before he shadow-travelled towards the nearest zeta-tube and beamed back to Earth.

"Last time he did that, he disappeared for four years," said Aqualad as he stared at the fading form of the half-blood.

"Do you think he'll be back?"

"He better be," said Nightwing, a frown of annoyance and bemusement on his face.

"Or else I'm going to kick his ass to Mars and back, demigod or not."

* * *

The loud 'ding' from the elevator seemed ambiguous as the doors slid open to reveal the entrance of Mount Olympus.

"Jason! So good to see you bro!"

The one and only Son of Jupiter grinned at a young satyr tending to the gardens beside the main street of Olympus.

"Same to you!" said Jason with a grin, opening his mouth to make another comment when he stepped forward and his gaze fell on the beautiful Mount Olympus. His breath caught at the sight before him, for the rebuilt mountain for the gods was simply…amazing.

Jason recalled the last time he'd been up here, two years ago. Construction sites had been everywhere, buildings half-built and paths barely paved, with the brilliant architect and daughter of Athena rushing around everywhere to ensure that everything was perfect. It had been messy, yes, and Jason had expected 'sheer awesomeness' (as Leo put it) but the sight before him was something else. In contrast to the small village-like style the old Olympus had, with traditional Greek columns and marble statues of cherubs and the Olympians, the new Olympus had both the ancient Greek style and the roman style of architecture mixed together, with Imperial Gold and Celestial Bronze used as building materials.

Some building retained their Greek-style tall marble columns, though celestial bronze now lined the ends of the columns. Doorframes were covered in Imperial Gold, and purple and orange seemed to be a recurring colour scheme on the buildings.

"I know right," said a voice beside him, and Jason turned to see a middle-aged woman beside him.

 _A godling,_ he thought, as her face was unfamiliar.

"I'm eight-hundred years old, and I doubt I've ever seen anything so incredible."

"Yeah," replied Jason, "Annabeth sure is amazing."

There was a pause as the two admired the scenery, before Jason felt a slight movement beside him and he turned, to find the godling regarding him curiously.

"You must be Jason Grace, the Son of Jupiter."

"Yes, ma'am. I don't believe we've met,"

"My name is Ismene."

Jason struggled to recall someone in history with the name, and noticed a celestial bronze hairclip that kept her black curls at bay had a lightning bolt on it.

She chuckled, "No, I doubt you have even heard of me. I was the daughter of Oedipus, and as the modern-day mortals like to describe it, 'shit hit the fan' when he stepped down from the throne of Thebes. Long story short, I was moments from death when Lady Athena recognised my loyalty and bravery and brought me to Olympus."

 _So not a godling…_

"Right…" said Jason with a confused frown, his gaze landing on her bronze hair-clip once more.

"I see you looking at this symbol. Indeed, it is the symbol of your father. That is because as you should know, mortals are rarely – if ever – allowed on Mount Olympus. However as I was a mortal I know it will seem strange that I was allowed here…you see, when Lady Athena brought me here, the original intention was to allow me the chance to raise my unborn child safely, for he had been prophesised to save a city in Rome."

"So was he a half-blood?"

"Yes, he was your…half-brother."

Jason mentally blanched at the revelation. He knew his father was famous for his…conquests over the years, but it was still a little strange to think about sometimes, especially when one of his past partners was standing just in front of him.

"Anyways, as you should know, some of the foods up here aren't meant to be eaten by non-immortals, and being the mortal that I was no one had told me ambrosia was not a food for humans, so in order to save my child and I from being burned alive from the inside, I was made immortal."

"And now you serve my father," said Jason plainly, trying not to think about what would be held behind the meaning 'serve'.

"I know you are wondering why I have told you all this, and I will tell you," Ismene paused for a moment, her demeanour changing rapidly from relaxed to tense as she glanced around.

"Not here," she said, grabbing his arm and suddenly, Jason found himself within a courtyard filled with beautiful flowers.

It was like a scene from a fairy-tale, but the Son of Jupiter barely had time to admire his surroundings before Ismene gestured for him to sit on a wooden bench.

"I understand you were summoned by your father here today?"

At Jason's nod, Ismene continued with a terse exhale, looking troubled.

"And I presume you know of his new…assistant?"

"Fid? Yeah, he was my idea."

Ismene looked alarmed, before she leaned in with a frown, "You picked him? Out of all the—"

"No, I mean the assistant idea. I didn't know who Fid was until father visited me at Camp once, with him trailing behind."

"I see…"

There was a pause, before Ismene looked Jason in the eyes, her gaze filled with anxiety and wariness.

"I have told you about myself in hopes that I will be one you could trust." she began, and Jason didn't know what to respond until she continued.

"You see…there have been whispers around Olympus, regarding this Fid. I do not have a good feeling about him, and the other servants of the God of Thunder agree with me. Even the oldest godling have never heard or seen this 'Fid' before, and sometimes he is spotted muttering to himself in a strange language not known to any man."

Jason furrowed his eyebrows in concern.

"Does my father know about this?"

"No, we do not believe so. Since Fid was hired, we have not been allowed within his chambers to…serve him as usual. He has been shutting all servants out, even for a platter of food or wine. Just two weeks ago, he allowed Fid to enter his temple."

"What?"

A god/godess' temple was a sacred place that only the god/goddess and his/her children were allowed in, at least that was what his own father had told him years before.

"We don't have much time, but know this, Son of Jupiter, there is something akin with… _evil_ about this 'Fid' godling, the one who has begun to whisper ideas and thoughts into your father's ear. I speak for the good of Olympus, please be cautious around him."

Jason processed the information quickly, before he nodded, eyes grave.

"OK, I will. Thank you so much for this,"

"My pleasure, Jason Grace. I hope you uncover his true face beneath this…this almost _un_ -godly façade before he shows it to us first…whatever that may be,"

 **A/N I've updated the chapter names for this story as well, cause i thought they sound a bit cooler lel. I know nothing much really happened in this chapter, but hey, you gotta have some chapters to foreshadow (wink ;) wink) and introduce some characters and make some cameos, right? (cookies to anyone who recognised the cameos from the two new characters ;)) /**goddammit me stop giving them spoilers!**/Thanks for reading! :DD**


	5. The Test Subject

**Heyyy guys...long time. sorry for the lack of updates, school plus family shit going on...really puts me on a writers block hahaha. but now I'm on summer holidays so wooooo! Merry be-lated christmas guys as well! I've been rewatching Young justice and re-reading the old teen titans comics, and it seems my writers block is out the window, because I am soooo keen to get on with this story, because we're still at the beginning blocks of it (i promise it'll get better and be less boring :P) I really hope you enjoy this chapter, but personally I wasn't very happy with how it turned out...but oh well! :D**

 **5: The Test Subject**

Nico breathed in the dull, clammy air of the Underworld as he arrived at the large poplar tree in the Fields of Asphodel. Of course, once he'd crossed the courtyard of his father's castle, the atmosphere would adapt to an almost fresh, almost spring-like air – courtesy of his stepmother and his step-grandmother.

The demigod proceeded to press his hand to the trunk of the poplar tree, and within a blink of an eye he'd arrived at the front entrance of Elysium. As he entered through the gate, he nodded to the two ghouls who stood guard on each side of the gate, and he soon found himself facing a big signpost at a crossroad that lead to possibly hundreds or even thousands of neighbourhoods.

Nico's eyes scanned the numerous signs until his eyes landed on 'The Super Friends'. He rolled his eyes at that, _very funny dad._ He touched the sign, and suddenly the magic within the post transported him to the entrance of the neighbourhood, marked by a never-ending water fountain,

Suddenly, Nico heard voices approaching the fountain, and he slipped into the shadows to observe the situation before he revealed himself. After all, it would be no surprise if these once mortal superheroes did now know who he was, as most did not even know the Underworld and the world of the Gods existed until they died.

"Oh, Kent. I just…just can't believe that we are together once more," stated what sounded like a young woman on the other side of the fountain, a sigh of happiness escaping her lips.

"Inza, my love, no matter what happens now, we will be together for eternity." replied a young man's voice, and at the moment of silence after, Nico realised what they were doing.

He emerged from the shadow as his face heated in embarrassment as he approached the young couple. They seemed to be too…involved in each other to notice him. Nico cleared his throat awkwardly, and when they didn't hear him over the sound of the water fountain he spoke up,

"Excuse me?"

The couple broke apart abruptly, looking up at him with a startled expression. A question was on the tip of the demigod's tongue, when the young man beat him to it.

"You're…alive," stated the man in shock as he started at Nico's solid form.

While the souls of Elysium had more colour than the black and white ghosts of the Fields of Asphodel, it was obvious when a living being was among them.

"Uh…yeah. My name is Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades."

"Oh, do pardon my manners, my lord. My name is Kent Nelson," said the young man, although his manner of speech and the way he carried himself suggested the man probably died at an old age.

The benefit of being in Elysium was the privilege of being able to look young again, no matter how old you were when you died. Kent gestured to the woman behind him, "My beloved wife, Inza."

The woman gave a curtsy, "My lord."

Nico shifted uncomfortably, "When did you die?" he asked the man, hoping to have caught the right person to ask to avoid making further awkward and unwanted conversations with other superheroes.

"August 19th, 2010. However, I did not get to the Underworld until November 5th of that year."

That was unusual, "What do you mean?" asked Nico.

"I was the host body of Nabu, better known as Doctor Fate for many years. When I was wounded in my later years by the witch demon Klarion, my mortal body was subsequently killed as a result. However, to save a companion of mine from being the next permanent host of Nabu, I stayed within the helmet to keep him company in exchange for my companion's freedom."

 _Klarion…_ the mere mention of the bastard's name made Nico's mood plummet.

"Who was your companion?"

"Wally West."

 _Bingo_. "Have you seen him around?"

There was a pause, before Kent's relaxed expression turned stricken.

"What? What do you mean, have I seen him around? Don't tell me he passed too!"

Kent's eyes turned sad.

"I must have missed him then, I apologies, my lord. I have not." Nico frowned as he bit his lip in exasperation.

"No worries, thanks."

As Nico left the couple alone, he pondered the situation. Of course, he had tried to summon the soul of Wally West prior to coming to Elysium, but when he had no response he had to visit himself. Just as he exited the party central of the Underworld, a flash of majestic black wings caught his eye, and he shadow-travelled quickly to the area.

"Thanatos."

The god turned with a mocking tilt of his lips, the closest thing the God had to a smile.

"The little lord returns, how may I serve thee?"

While Thanatos appeared cold and unfriendly to others, over the years, he and Nico had developed a sort of odd partnership; as the God was fiercely loyal to his father, Thanatos could even be…kind to Nico at times.

"Just got a question," stated the half-blood, and just as the God opened his mouth for his own inquiry, Nico rolled his eyes, "Yes, I got your text. I'll be going after him as soon as I'm done here."

The God nodded to him in response, tossing the half-blood a bag Nico knew would be full of drachmas; the job description of a soul-hunting mercenary did include payment for his efforts. There was a pause of silence after Nico replayed the same question he asked Kent Nelson to the God as Thanatos scrolled through his hPad, before he turned to Nico with a puzzled frown.

"No…there seems to be no one of the name 'Wally West' on my list. Are you sure this is the right spelling?"

Nico was silent, _impossible_ … _unless…_

"But…"

"Should he be?" asked Thanatos with a dangerous edge to his voice.

The God despised misbehaved souls, especially the ones who escaped death during Gaia's rampage of the Underworld and Tartarus.

"To be honest? I'm…not sure. I was told by a, er, friend that he died in an accident, but not exactly _how_."

"Was there a body?"

Nico was silent at that, "I'll find out," he said, as his face seemed to match the god's own troubled expression.

"Thanks."

As Nico turned to leave, he had an odd and uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"He was a friend of yours?"

Nico halted in his steps, before he turned his head to address the God of Death.

"I wouldn't use the term friend. A team-mate, I'd say,"

There was a pause.

"What would you do if I did one day send you his name?"

Nico was being tested, he knew. Thanatos could be quite a difficult and tricky god when he wanted to be,

"I'll do my job, I suppose."

"Your job as a paid mercenary, a Son of Hades and a servant to your father, or your job as his friend?"

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation as he breathed in a breath of patience,

"As I told you, he was not my friend. Of course I'd do my bloody job as a Son of Hades – souls who escape death merely delay their time because they're cowards…sooner or later the lion will catch its prey."

And with that, Nico wasted no time and shadow-travelled away before the god could ask any more questions. However, as he arrived in the middle of a quiet area in Brooklyn, he couldn't suppress the odd feeling of guilt that had begun to gnaw at his insides at his swift reply to Thanatos…he had learned over the years that being fiercely loyal to a cause would lead to a fault – exhibit A being his cousin and long time friend Percy Jackson, possibly the most selfless idiot (though lovable idiot, as Annabeth constantly likes to call him to avoid hurting his feelings) Nico had ever met.

While his own loyalty stood by his father, he knew that Hades had some questionable morals and made some controversial choices over the years that Nico had not put much thought into…until now. The mercenary gig was really something he would have to do sooner or later, as it was his role as a Son of Hades to restore order amongst the Underworld; the money was just the generous side of Hades and Thanatos showing through.

So far, all the souls he had collected had been faceless people with forgettable names that he hadn't given two thoughts about as he took their souls, yet as he arrived at the front door of a simple house in Brooklyn, there was a troubling prodding in his heart that did not feel right.

His palms were sweating; his mouth went dry as he pulled his hood up from his cloak and unsheathed his Stygian iron sword.

Dear gods, was he…nervous?

Nico swallowed a shaking breath as he knocked on the front door. He was greeted by a little boy of six years, glancing up at him with innocent eyes.

"Sweetie, who is…"

The woman who came after the boy stuttered a step at the sight of Nico, her face going pale as the blood drained from her face.

"C-Carl! Carl! He's here! He's—"

There came a running of footsteps as a middle-aged man came stumbling to the front door.

"Mr…Mr. di Angelo…p-please, I beg you! I didn't know—"

"If you keep it quiet and co-operate with me, your son and wife will see nothing and forget that you've ever been here."

The man looked stricken, before he bowed his head with defeat as he turned and knelt, hugging his son tightly.

"No matter what happens, daddy loves you, remember that?" his voice was shaking as tears began to stream down his face, and Nico suddenly felt his stomach clench at the sight in front of him.

It was strange, as he'd remember being in this scenario before, but never really paid attention to anything else other than getting the job done. He watched the man embrace his wife, as the couple exchanged a tearful goodbye. The boy didn't understand what was going on, but the woman certainly did, and Nico found he couldn't bring himself to look at her tear-soaked face as he turned, hearing the front door close and footsteps behind him.

 _They deserved this, all of them. It's not like you're killing them or anything, they were already dead in the first place. This is justice for their crime, justice for escaping Thanatos and father_.

But Nico ignored his own self-righteous subconscious for the first time, and swallowed thickly as he led the man to a small park in the neighbourhood. The quiet scenery and bright sunshine contradicted vastly with what he was about to do.

"I missed his third and fourth birthday." said the man behind him, and it seemed Nico could not shut out the man's voice.

"His name is Tyler, he was born on Good Friday. I remember when he first opened his eyes and looked at me, he was just so…" the man trailed off when Nico came to a halt beneath a large oak tree and turned to him.

"Carl Messer," he said quietly, voice suddenly thick as he gritted his teeth,

"You have defied the ancient laws of Fate, and escaped the realm of the dead, from my father. You will face justice at the hands of the three judges of the Underworld in a moment."

The man, Carl, closed his eyes as his tears flowed freely. Nico lifted his eyes from the man's shoes to his own sword, the blade suddenly feeling like it was a million tonnes. He lifted his sword, and he found his eyes couldn't quite reach the man's face,

"I'm sorry," whispered the demigod, and the sword came down, swift and smooth.

He heard a crunching sound as the man's head and body collapsed into the grass, but for the first time, he couldn't bear to look as he opened the Earth and returned the body to where it belonged. As Nico turned and headed towards the nearest restaurant down the street for food, the guilt burned in his heart like fire as he moodily waved away his shadow mask and shoved his hood down. He never hated himself more than he did in that moment as he could hear the annoying voice inside his head once more, _what will you do if Wally was your next target?_ He didn't want to find out.

* * *

It was as if a boxer had used her body as a sandbag. Her head pounded, her muscles felt as if they had been lit on fire, and as she somehow managed to lift her eyelids, her eyes burned as a bright light was shone right onto her beaten face.

"Gal'fore?" her voice was a weak rasp, and she felt movement around her.

She weakly tried to move her limps, but iron restraints were strapped around her ankles, and her giant handcuffs were still in place. She tried a different method – exhaling a breath, the girl called out to her powers as she struggled against her bonds…however, the usual warmth that came with a surge of her power did not come.

"Looks like our sleeping beauty is awake,"

The language, so foreign and odd to her, was a vast contrast to her own native tongue.

"I'm sorry, did you want to use your powers? Looks like our friend took care of that for us," the girl did not understand what the feminine voice was talking about, but she felt a soft caress on the metal around her neck, and realised her collar was still on. No wonder her powers didn't come. Still blinded by the light, the girl struggled against her restraints once more.

"S'car lorf kar," she whispered,

"Oh don't worry, my dear. All will be over soon."

"Z'orf nav! Z'ORF NAV S'CALDAR KAR GLOR!"

There came an infuriating chuckle from the creature next to her, and that was when the girl recognised the type of voice – it was a large contrast to the rough tone of the people from her homeland, and far from the guttural growls of the Gordanians - the ones she feared the most and the ones she thought were the ones who had captured her – no, she had only briefly heard the voice of an Earthling when she watched the trial of the Justice League of Earth on Rimbor several months ago.

 _So I am on the Planet Earth_ , thought the alien girl as she ceased struggling against her binds. She may not understand the Earth's primitive language, as she had never come to this planet before, but she now knew that they could not be able to harm her.

As far as she knew, the beating she had taken was from the Gordanian's themselves before she managed to fight her way to an escape pod. However, that false sense of security came to an abrupt halt as she suddenly felt a prickling on her forearm, and a burning pain erupted from her arm and shot through her body. She almost didn't hear the Earthling's next phrase amidst the sound of her own screaming, before she welcomed the darkness that began to embrace her like a friend.

"Welcome to Cadmus."

* * *

"It doesn't look right." stated Zatanna as she tilted her head in confusion.

The sorceress, M'gann and Superboy were tasked with finding the meaning behind the strange symbol from Mars.

"What do you mean?" asked M'gann as she stared at the hologram screen in front of her, covered with articles found all over the world on different symbols and languages.

An enlarged picture of the engraved symbol sat in the middle of the screen, while the actual engraving itself that Alpha team had acquired – by subsequently carving a section off the fountain from the village on Mars – hovered in front of them.

"We shouldn't rule out the possibility that this symbol could be a mockery of Superman's S, but I highly doubt anyone…or any _thing_ for that matter would possess B'arazz just to threaten Superman." reasoned Superboy.

"True," said M'gann as she raised her hand to the screen, the act causing her hand to brush against Superboy's arm in the process.

Her hand tingled as it made contact, and the young heroine was mortified when she felt tendrils of heat begin to creep onto her face.

 _God, M'gann! You're twenty-one Earth years old, and you're acting like a schoolgirl with a crush_. Ever since Wally's disappearance, things have been…interesting between the Martian and a certain Boy of Steel.

She was certain of her feelings for him, and was confident that the feelings were mutual, however he hadn't actually asked her out yet, and she was beginning to worry that maybe she had just been over-thinking things.

"Hold on, I need to expand my resources," said Zatanna, and a few muttered spells later, several ancient-looking tomes appeared in front of the heroine.

"I mean, do they even _look_ remotely similar?" asked Superboy suddenly, and M'gann turned when he pointed at his shirt and to the carving.

M'gann glanced up at his face, and couldn't stifle a giggle when she noticed a small smudge of chalk on Superboy's face. He'd been training with Aqualad prior to doing this task, and some of the grip chalk from lifting the weights must've gotten there.

"You have some thing on your face," she said, and he raised his eyebrows self-consciously as he went and rubbed how face all over.

"Here?"

"No, here silly," she chided before she reached up and rubbed the chalk off with her finger.

Her face heated up once more when she realised how…intimate the act was, but when she dared a glance at his eyes, she found them fixed onto her.

"Uh, guys? Can you be cute later? I think I might've found something."

The two sprang apart and turned to Zatanna sheepishly, but the sorceress merely smiled at that, before she sobered when she glanced at the opened page of the tome in front of her.

"This was the closest thing I could find that looked like the mark, but it doesn't make any sense."

"Why?" asked M'gann as she approached the tome, Superboy following close behind.

"If this really is the same mark, it is an omen of, well, evil. Like pure, evil. The worst of the worst."

M'gann and Superboy looked alarmed, "What? How?"

"I don't know how to explain it, and unfortunately I can only read every fifth or so words in this book as I'm not exactly fluent in a language this old. But—" Zatanna cut off when she raised her hand to her com-link.

"Yes, I copy…OK, I can be there in a second."

"What's going on?" asked Superboy at the sight of Zatanna's puzzled look,

"Aqualad found an unconscious twelve-year-old girl at the new Hall of Justice."

 **A/N It's 2am and I only got 2 hours sleep last night...dunno how im not tired lmao rip me. I know it was kinda depressing in Nico's bit, but look...you need some sort of *character development* right? lel maybe I'll get to that level one day. Hope my poor attempt at SuperMartian fluff wasn't too shit lol! a bit cliche but I tried :P Thank you so much for reading! :D (ps you guys are very smart and most of you already know who *the girl* is, but for those of you who don't...just wait! she's a popular character and definitely not an OC - I'm pretty shit at writing OC's so all the main characters are not mine :)**


	6. The Black Bird

**GUESS WHAT GUYS? I'M NOT DEAD! (but I may as well be) :D hahaha, very sorry guys, been super busy. I'm in my last year of senior/highschool or whatever you want to call it, as I explained a few chapters ago and legit have not had the time at all to write anything. So sorry for the late update, but I hope you enjoy! There's some action in this one, finally, and a heck of alot of foreshadowing ;))))) lul...man I'm so fucking tired...**

 **6: The Black Bird**

Blüdhaven was like a miniature Gotham City. By day, the streets were crowded with beggars and businessmen, and by night they were littered with gangs, drug dealers and thugs alike.

That is, until the former protégé of the Dark Knight arrived.

Within months, the streets were ridded of its once shifty occupants; the homeless were given shelter, and it was none other than the infamous Nightwing who had single-handedly saved the once rotting city of Blüdhaven from the hands of corruption. While crime was not unheard of, it was no longer a common occurrence as it had once been.

"Come on, Luke, it's getting late," called a man's voice, "you don't want to be late for mummy's beef stew now, do you?"

"No, of course not!" squealed a five year old boy, picking up his ball and throwing it up.

As the child leapt up and tried to catch it, however, the rubber ball merely grazed his fingers, and bounced off into a dark alleyway.

"Wait! Come back!" yelled the boy as he chased after his beloved ball, his form disappearing into the shadows of the evening.

"Luke, wait! Stop—"

But suddenly, a boy's scream tore through the air, and the boy came speeding back out onto the quiet street, "DADDY! THERE'S A MONSTER IN THE DUMPSTER!" he screamed.

Before the man could reply, however, a loud whishing sound was heard, and a shadow passed over their heads.

"All right, all right. I think it's time to go home," declared the man, now reassured as he grabbed his cowering son by the hand and led him out; he had nothing to worry about anymore, for the vigilante of Blüdhaven had arrived.

Nightwing had gotten used to many strange things throughout his life as Batman's protégé and a member of the young justice team. From giant killer robots from space to deranged clowns holding hostages within a run-down amusement park, the young hero had seen it all. So when he heard the little boy's scream from an alleyway just a few blocks from his vantage point, he wasted no time in leaping off the tallest building in Blüdhaven like a trampoline, mentally preparing himself for whatever was awaiting him down in the alley.

What he didn't expect to find, however, was his new teammate that he hadn't heard from in a week.

"Ghost king?" said the hero in a voice of surprise at the sight of the Son of Hades, slumped over behind a garbage bin, half asleep and mid-yawn.

"Rob-I mean, it was Nightwing, right?"

Nightwing couldn't help but smirk, "Yeah. The hell have you been this past week?"

"Here and there," replied the demigod as he stood and brushed himself off.

When Nico glanced up from his damp clothes due to the light drizzle earlier, he saw the expectant look on the other hero's face, and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I was sleeping here. What's the big deal? Just needed a quick nap," said the half-blood self-consciously.

"Well, it's just that you kind of ended up in the Watchtower because you were sleeping in a phone booth. GK, are you…homeless or something?"

Nico opened his mouth to tell Nightwing of his cabin at camp, and the apartment he'd bought in New Rome, and his room at Hades' palace in the Underworld…except, in all honesty, he was sort-of homeless as of the moment. He had no place to stay in the mortal world to cool-off between hunts; no place to cook or anything which resulted in a lot of fast-food meals and not exactly a bed. To sum it up, he had no _convenient_ place to stay, at least in the mortal world.

"Sort of," he said.

"Not exactly loaded with your mortal cash at the moment, as my job only pays in drachmas."

Nightwing scoffed when Nico mentioned the word 'mortal', "Have you considered getting, like, a normal job?"

"I don't suppose Batman and what's-his-face would pay me to be on your team," at his raised brow, Nico rolled his eyes, "Yeah, didn't think so. It's not like I've ever been to school to apply for anything, and employers don't usually look at me and want to hire me,"

"Well—"

 _"Robbery down 16th! Two suspects, appear to be armed with butcher knives!"_

Nightwing's hand snapped to his earpiece as back straightened, and Nico immediately sobered as he sat up abruptly.

"What?"

"Robbery two streets away, I've got to run."

Nightwing raised his arm towards the rooftop, and a grappling hook shot from his gauntlets and attached itself to the ledge above.

"Catch you later…" but all Nightwing saw when he turned around was a dumpster, any trace that the Ghost King was there moments ago had all but vanished.

Shaking his head slightly, Nightwing began to mentally plan the correct way to catch the thieves…that is, until he finally reached the top of the building to his vantage point, to see said thieves fleeing on the ground below.

Immediately, Nightwing pounced from the building with the grace of a tiger, doing a double somersault in the air before he landed gracefully in the alleyway several metres below.

"So…are we meant to call the police or something?" came Nico's voice, and Nightwing glanced up from his landing, and barely hid his shock that the thieves were already sprawled on the ground, groaning in pain.

Wordlessly, Nightwing lifted his arm and signalled the local officers. The stunned silence lingered, until Nico huffed in frustration at his friend's blank expression with a roll of his eyes,

"OK, what now?"

Nightwing's lips twitched as his eyes widened with an idea, and Nico could imagine a light bulb above the hero's head lighting up,

"You can talk to the dead, right?"

Nico raised an eyebrow, "Yes, performing séances' is my hobby," he deadpanned, and Nightwing rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. What I'm trying to say is…when someone has committed a murder, the best witness is of course the victim, and since you can talk to the dead, you'll be perfect for the job! Just like how you caught these two within half a minute, this would be a piece of cake for you."

Nico didn't like the cheeriness in Nightwing's tone.

"Where are you going with this?"

"You needed a job, right? Have you ever considered joining the force, _Officer_ Nico?"

* * *

"Aqualad, we came as soon as we could," said M'gann as she, Zatanna and Superboy rushed into the foyer of the newly rebuilt Hall of Justice.

The building was reconstructed after the brutal fight with Despero months ago, and only had its grand opening just two weeks prior.

"Who is she?"

"We do not know. The security feed shows this girl staggering up the steps of the hall before collapsing, and I only noticed her when I came by to see my king."

M'gann glanced at the young girl; her skin was pale, like she had never been in the sun for long and her hair was thin and raven-black in colour. She wore a torn blue cloak, held together by a broach that looked like it was a precious gemstone. Beneath her cloak was a black leotard that seemed to have been ripped at her waist and thigh.

M'gann placed her hand on the girl's forehead, "She's gone cold,"

"Her heart is still beating, though it's not very strong. I can barely hear it," said Superboy while M'gann leaned down to the girl's chest.

"She's barely breathing,"

"Hold up, I'm going to try to wake her up." Zatanna knelt at the girl's side, and muttered a spell as her hands hovered over the girl's chest.

For a tense moment, nothing happened, before the girl's hand suddenly twitched, and her body flinched as if it had been electrocuted.

"W-What happened?" said M'gann after a moment.

"It didn't work," said Zatanna with a puzzled look on her face.

"That's odd, let me try that again."

The sorceress once again muttered the spell, but this time, as soon as the last word left her lips, the girl suddenly shot up with a gasp.

"Hello? Hello, can you hear—"

Aqualad cut off abruptly as the girl suddenly opened her eyes, which were glowing red as her head snapped towards the direction of Zatanna and words began to sprout from her lips.

"What's going onNN!" Miss Martian gave a yell as the girl's arm suddenly sprang up from her side, and a purple energy bolt exploded from the girl's palm, flinging the Martian like a rag-doll across the room.

"M'gann!" yelled Superboy as he turned to the girl in anger.

"No, Superboy, don't—"

But it was Aqualad's turn to be hit as he too was also thrown across the room.

Superboy dashed angrily at the girl, but just as he made contact, black, mystic-like fog came from the girl and seemed to swallow him.

Fingers of the smoke curled up his arms to restrain him as he began to thrash.

"No, wait!"

The Boy of Steel looked up at the girl as he helplessly tried to get free, and his eyes widened at the sight of the girl's face.

Two additional set of eyes seemed to have sprouted from where her eyebrows were meant to be, and all six of them were glowing red and staring at Superboy as the energy restraints grew tighter.

Suddenly, a yellow ball of energy slammed into the girl's back, and she turned so suddenly Superboy swore he heard a _crack_. Zatanna was hovering in the air, firing mystic shot after mystic shot at the girl, until she saw the three pairs of eyes staring at her. Zatanna's blood-curling scream tore through the air like a knife slicing through butter, and that was the catalyst that triggered Superboy to begin thrashing harder than he had.

He ground his teeth and slammed his feet into the ground, leaping into the air and escaping the black fog. He was about to slam right into the girl with a yell, before the fog suddenly disappeared and the girl slumped to the ground.

"I took her out, but I'm not sure how long that's going to last," said M'gann breathlessly.

Superboy rushed to her side,

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern, and she nodded with a weak smile.

"Just some bruises on my ribs. Nothing to worry about," she said, but their short moment ended when M'gann noticed the slumped figure next to the girl.

"Zatanna!" she said as she rushed towards the sorceress' side along with Superboy.

"She seems to be in stasis," said Aqualad.

Zatanna's face was frozen in an expression of horror, her hands still wrapped in energy, but the energy was still at the ready to fire and seemed to be sitting in place at the centre of her palm.

"It's like she's…frozen," said Superboy in shock, "should we bring her back to the Watchtower?"

"No, there's no one up there the last time I checked, and we need help, stat," said M'gann worriedly.

"What shall do we do with her?"

The heroes turned to look at the young girl on the ground, once again unconscious; her extra pairs of eyes seemed to have disappeared as well. "We will take them to S.T.A.R. labs," stated Aqualad, "It is the only place that might give us an answer to what happened to Zatanna, and the only place where the both of them can be properly monitored."

Superboy nodded grimly as he bent to pick up Zatanna, while M'gann telepathically lifted the unconscious girl from the floor and began directing her towards the Zeta-tube…until she stopped in her tracks so suddenly that Aqualad nearly ran into her from behind.

"M'gann? What's wrong?" he said, just as Superboy followed Miss Martian's shocked gaze to the exposed skin of the girl's shoulder, where her cloak was torn. "What is it?"

"It's the mark…the one we found on Mars."

* * *

"It's the bird! Ella can see the big black bird again!"

Chiron looked up from the New York Times that his companion had conveniently placed to the doorstep of the Big House earlier that morning.

"A big black bird you say? Really? Even with the storm rolling in?"

The centaur was currently in his wheelchair, and slowly slid across the wooden floor to the window. Indeed, the sky was currently as grey as the eye colour of the Athena children – gods know what's put Zeus in such a bad mood.

"Does the kind centaur not see what Ella sees? There is a big black bird flying around just outside!"

Chiron glanced at the harpy with his peripheral vision, before glancing out to the bird-less sky and made a show of staring at the imaginary creature in wonder.

"Why, yes, I see it. I wonder what's got it so excited."

And the harpy nodded animatedly as she began to mutter her musings of this bird aloud once again for the third time of the day.

Ever since the end of the war with the Giants, Rachel Dare – the current host of the oracle of Delphi – Ella and Tyson had travelled to Camp Jupiter in hopes of rewriting the Sibylline Books, ancient books of prophecy that Ella had managed to memorise prior to their destruction. All seemed to be going well for the first couple of years, with Rachel claiming to have nearly finished their first book, when everything went wrong.

Frank had described the sound that came from the archives the most terrifying and blood-curling scream he had ever heard, and by the time he and several other legionnaires had barged into the crypts of Camp Jupiter that contained all the archives from the centuries, the three companions were sprawled on the ground, unconscious with no visible wounds; the remains of a charred book was found scattered everywhere.

Luckily, it only took a few hours for them to wake up, with no memory of what had occurred. While they were monitored for weeks, it was eventually decided that whatever happened in the crypts – Tyson was not affected in anyway. Ella and Rachel however…

"Chiron! Jason just Iris-messaged me that he's on his way back from Olympus and he wants to talk to you in private before our council meeting this afternoon, just a heads up!"

"Thank you, Piper. Just let him know as soon as he arrives that I'll be down by the lake," stated Chiron with a distracted smile at the daughter of Aphrodite.

"Is…everything alright?" she asked as she stepped into the cosy interior of the Big House.

Chiron glanced at the harpy perched by the window, words sprouting from her lips in rapid-fire succession as she voiced her musings and thoughts on the black bird.

"She's fine…but she keeps mentioning the black bird again."

Piper pursed her lips as her brows drew together in thought, "Do you think it's a sign? Like a warning or something?"

There was a moment of silence as Chiron processed the words, having had the same thoughts for the past year ever since the incident.

"It is definitely a sign. The only question is – why is Ella the only one seeing this…bird? She seemed to be the only one affected by whatever happened in those crypts, not even Rachel knows what she's talking about…speaking of Rachel, have you heard from her recently?"

Piper nodded, "Yeah, she's still staying with her mortal parents as of last week."

Chiron pursed his lips, troubled, as he stared absently at the crackling fireplace before him.

"Something happened to their minds in those crypts," he stated, and Piper sighed, before she levelled a thoughtful gaze onto the old centaur.

"There's only one way we can find out what really happened…I think we should go look for the bird—"

Suddenly, a loud screech tore through the air, and there was a thud as Ella fell from her perch and collapsed onto the hard wood floor.

"Ella!" shouted Piper as the two hurried to the harpy, who was sprawled on the ground, eyes clouded and dazed – as if she was in a trance.

"Ella, are you OK?"

Ella's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out as a spasm suddenly ripped through her body, and she let out another ear-piercing screech.

"What's happened? What's going on?" came a chorus of shouts, and Piper looked up to see Katie Gardner, the Stoll brothers and several other campers barge in with their weapons drawn.

"What's going on?" said Travis, and Piper turned to address her friends.

"We're not sure yet, but…"

Piper's voice trailed off when she caught Ella's soft, almost inaudible voice coming from behind her, and she leaned in close to catch the harpy's dazed words. There was a moment of terse silence, and all that could be heard from a pop as the wood crackled in the fireplace.

"What did she say?" asked Katie, and Piper slowly turned her head to meet her fellow half-blood's look, showing her friend the worry and confusion in her eyes.

"She says…the contact has been made, and the Raven has six eyes."

 **A/N Thanks for reading! I might not be able to update for a *little* bit (so sorry) but I have exams in two weeks so kms...but anyways, until next time, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and sorry again for the long wait and the lack of quality**


	7. The Shooting STAR

**Hey guys! Omg, it's been so long, and I am so sorry about that! But guess what? I FINALLY FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL! That's right! though I'll be off to uni next year, I'll have so much more free time (to hopefully finally write and finish this story lel). anyways, without further ado, here is the next chapter of Soldiers of the Light!**

 **7: The Shooting S.T.A.R.**

 _One year ago_

"I swear to the gods, Ed, if this is another prank gone wrong—" but a very tired and dishevelled Frank Zhang stopped in his tracks at the sight of the red-headed host of the Oracle of Delphi, standing at the doorway to his office as he yanked open the door.

"Oh, Rachel! Haven't seen you in a while, how have you been?" he said quickly, as he sheepishly tried to cover his initial outburst.

Rachel was frozen in place with wide eyes, her hand still in mid-air from knocking, before her gaze turned critical after a beat.

"Jeez, Frank, when was the last time you've been out of this office?" she said as she pushed past him and slipped into the dark and stuffy room behind him.

"Oh gods, it smells like…I don't even want to _begin_ to describe it," she gagged as she made a beeline straight for the window, "Dude, you know Hazel's not going to be happy when she comes back for the summer."

"Oh, man. It's just…I mean being _praetor_ is such a great honour and all, but there's just _so much_ paper work. How did Reyna manage this for so long and not go insane?" he said, and Rachel turned to see him rubbing his nape wearily.

"Maybe you should ask her," _Before she finishes her time of service and retires from the legion for collage,_ thought Rachel as she recalled a dream she had a few days earlier.

"Anyways, I actually just wanted to drop by to tell you, we did it! We finished the first-ever sibylline book! We're just about to finalise it and make it fancy and all, but Ella sort of passed out with exhaustion, so Tyson and I figured we should take a breather and wait 'til she's ready to go."

"That's great news!" exclaimed Frank as he headed for his chair once more, but Rachel beat him to it and sat down before he even got the chance to touch it.

"No, absolutely not. I know how much you _love_ signing those contracts, and you can go back to them once you go home and take a shower and a nap. You look worse than Ella was,"

Frank opened his mouth to protest, but at the sight of Rachel's look he sighed in compliance.

"Alright, alright. Let me know once you've finished the book completely," he stated as he staggered towards the door.

"Will do," she replied, and he was nearly out the door when she called him back.

"Wait,"

Frank turned, and Rachel gave him a small, sympathetic smile at the sight of exhausted _praetor_ ,

"You're doing great, Frank. New Rome has never been stronger or this united in _centuries_ , and I can tell you with absolute certainty that Reyna isn't the only one responsible for that."

A swell of gratitude erupted from his chest at the words, and Frank gave her a smile of his own before he waved his farewell and headed for his villa. What the _praetor_ didn't know, however, was that this would be his last farewell to his friend, the host of the Oracle of Delphi for a while…the last farewell before she encounters the one thing that will change their lives that will be told in stories and legends centuries after their time.

What Frank _didn't know_ , was that if he had just gone home the day before to rest and had gone to work in his office fresh and well-rested, he could've gone with Rachel to grab a cup of coffee, and maybe drop by the crypts to see the nearly-finished sibylline book himself; that if he had done so, he would've recommended them to use leather to bound the book instead of paper, so the project would've been prevented from completion for another few hours to prevent an even bigger catastrophe that would change their lives forever.

No, all Frank knew at that moment was that there was a soft and comfortable bed waiting for him at his villa just a building away…he wouldn't know anything else until a centurion would burst into his home hours later, with a terse message that the entrance to the crypts of New Rome had been set on fire.

* * *

 _Present Day_

"Where is she?"

"B-Batman! Ohmygosh I-I—"

"Don't mind our new intern," came the dry voice of Dr. Silas Stone as he gestured for the intern to leave the room, and nodding hastily, the young scientist hurried to the exit, only to stop and gawk as Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Miss Martian and Superboy followed the Dark Knight into the lab.

"Over here, we've been monitoring her since Superboy brought her in a couple of hours ago, but there's nothing. Absolutely nothing, it's as if she's…frozen in time or something."

Batman stopped at the window that revealed the infirmary of S.T.A.R. labs, and took in the sight of Zatanna's frozen form on top of the white hospital bed within. Her legs hadn't moved from the semi-crouched position she was in the day before – her arms were similarly frozen in a battle stance, and the most peculiar thing was the half-fired energy bolts from her hands, as if they, too, were frozen in time; her entire form looked as if someone had taken a picture of her mid-battle, only instead of the capture moment being printed on a photograph, the sorceress herself had frozen to pose.

"Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter, try to see if you can wake her from…whatever trance she's in," said Batman, and there was a moment of silence for the order to sink in, before Superboy stepped up.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" the Boy of Steel trailed off when Batman turned to face him with his signature scowl, but he took a deep breath and met the Dark Knight's challenging glare with his own.

"Why?"

"Because of what happened to Zatanna. She was fighting that, well, whoever that creepy girl was at the Hall, when she froze. I think it happened when she looked at her eyes. If M'ga—Miss Martian and Martian Manhunter tried to look into her mind, the same thing might happen to them if they saw what Zatanna saw."

Superboy gestured to the expression of pure horror that had been frozen on Zatanna's face.

"Yeah," said Miss Martian as she stepped up in line with Superboy.

"And tell me, _what_ exactly happened at the Hall again?" growled Batman suddenly, angry as he glared at the two young heroes.

Superboy was a little startled, and more fearful than he'd like to admit of the Dark Knight, while Miss Martian grew confused at Batman's outburst. Since being Miss Martian as a part of the team and technically partners with the Justice League, she'd always known Batman to be level-headed, collected and calm person – this moody side of him was simply uncalled for.

"We got Aqualad's message about the twelve-year-old girl appearing at the Hall. When we got there she was still unconscious, until Zatanna tried to wake her, which worked and she attacked us. I don't remember much else, but there was a fight, and lots of weird, mystic black smoke,"

"Where did you contain this girl?" asked Red Tornado, and Superboy and Miss Martian glanced at each other briefly before they turned to the three,

"We collared her and locked her inside the containment cells here,"

Batman glared at them for a few more seconds, before he turned to face Zatanna's frozen form once more.

"We're going to need to get Doctor Fate," he stated firmly, and everyone agreed silently as Dr. Stone approached the console on the side of Zatanna's bed.

"I didn't want to do this before you came, but I'll start the scan now," he said as he picked up the clipboard beside the sorceress' bed and strode up towards a switch panel on the other side of the room.

"What about the other one?" asked Batman, as the machine that was attached to the ceiling above Zatanna whirred to life.

"Still out, you must've hit her pretty hard, Miss Martian."

Superboy glanced at Miss Martian at the comment, and he felt warmth filling his chest when he noticed the small smile that had appeared on her face, but the moment was over when Batman rounded on them once more.

"Was there anything else?"

"Yeah," said the Boy of Steel as he recalled something he'd found prior to bringing the two to S.T.A.R. labs, "We found the marks from Mars all over the other girl's body."

Batman lifted his arm, and after a few taps on his gauntlet, a hologram of an image of the mark was projected from his wrist.

"We are going to need to find the meaning behind the mark once and for all, and as soon as possible," stated the metallic voice of Red Tornado suddenly, and all four heroes turned to face the android.

"I understand that it is vital that we do, Tornado, but why such urgency?" asked Martian Manhunter, who had been silent the whole time, and Red Tornado proceeded to push down Zatanna's sleeve, to show the others the jagged mark on the skin of her wrist that looked like a freshly inked tattoo, "Because I don't recall Zatanna having a tattoo, let alone one to match that mark."

* * *

 _"_ _Run, suckers, run!"_

The exclamation was met with a torrent of screams as a column of fire forced the pedestrians to flee in terror.

 _"_ _Ha! Keystone will be mine to take! And no one, not even the stupid hero in the leotard suit's gonna stop me!"_

The man – no – teen, really, once again lifted his arm, and a wave of flames shot from his bare palms towards the fleeing civilians. The scene unfolded for another few seconds, before the clip was paused and minimised to a small window on the TV screen within Dick Grayson's penthouse, just as a familiar blond man steps into the frame. " _You see this? Folks? This is what those Reach cockroaches have brought to our planet! We Earthlings are transforming,_ mutating _into meta-humans! Who will be next? Your neighbour, your husband; your wife or your children? These powers should not be left unchecked! Can you imagine a world where everybody had different superpowers of their own? Chaos! Chaos everywhere, just look how much Earth has been under attack ever since the Justice League was formed—"_

"Urgh, I knew that was coming," scoffed Dick in disgust as he reached for his remote to mute the television.

"What was?" asked Nico, as he stepped into the living room of his teammate's million-dollar penthouse at the heart of Blüdhaven, hair still wet from his shower.

"Godfrey, he's the host of this popular show that's pretty much a non-stop broadcast of the internet's wildest conspiracy theories, most of them always having to do with the Justice League or something like that,"

Nico turned to the massive flat-screen on the wall of the apartment, and took in the middle-aged man standing in the middle of the screen, noting his wavy greying blond hair and almost crude-looking eyes.

"I mean, to be honest, I can't tell you for sure at the moment, but he looks suspiciously like a monster to me," he said as he draped his towel around his neck to stop the remaining water droplets from falling onto his shirt.

"I'll say," said Dick with a roll of his eyes, and Nico smirked at the comment.

"I mean an actual monster,"

"Like one from the myths?"

At Nico's look, Dick hurried to correct himself, but Nico cut him off with a wave of his hand just as he opened his mouth.

"You'd be surprised by how many monsters, demigods and immortals are actually around you. You do realise the two homeless women down by the alleyway on our way here were _dracaena_ right?"

"What? But—"

"Don't worry, I took care of them easily. By the time they realised their shadows were missing, my sword was already half-way through their necks."

While Dick had known of the existence of strange creatures and beings from his years as a superhero, the fact that even the Greek gods from the myths could exist continued to astound him. It was hard to wrap his head around the fact that demigods and monsters – the ones from the stories he'd studied at school could be hanging about right beside him the whole time.

"Uh, thanks for letting me use your shower by the way," added Nico awkwardly.

After catching the thieves, Dick had offered Nico his place to shower, surprising both the half-blood and himself with the offer. While he supposed Nico wasn't exactly a stranger, or a bad guy – for that matter, he still barely knew him, as there was only so much the Batcave computer knew about demigods and monsters.

"What is _that_?"

Dick snapped out of his thoughts at the question, and turned to the TV screen, to see an enlarged picture of the Reach leader and Godfrey ranting animatedly at the image. With a sigh, Dick proceeded to explain the extent of the Reach invasion just several months earlier. By the time he finished, Nico stared at him with shocked eyes,

"Earth was…invaded?"

Dick could only meet his look with confusion.

"You guys didn't know about that? It was all over the news! Heck, it still is!"

At this, Nico's brows drew together in a puzzled frown.

"That _is_ weird. I mean, there's no TV at camp or anything, but Chiron still reads the newspaper sometimes, and _surely_ someone out of four-hundred campers and even more legionnaires would've heard about it."

"Did you say legionnaires?"

But Nico waved him off as his frown deepened.

"And the Earth itself was nearly destroyed? How did we not hear about this?"

Dick knew that Nico wasn't exactly asking him for an answer, but even _he_ felt the confusion at the fact that Nico and the half bloods – _four hundred_ of them to be precise – had no clue that the Earth was invaded by aliens mere months ago.

"When did this all happen? Like, when the Earth was about to be destroyed and all?"

"June 20th, that was the day the Reach commenced their endgame, and the day when…"

"When your friend Wally… _passed away_ ," said Nico, finishing the sentence for his new teammate as he registered the carefully suppressed emotions on Dick's face…though he did feel the odd sensation of unease ripple through his stomach when he uttered the last part, as he recalled his conversation with Thanatos just days earlier.

"Yeah, that was the day Wally died," stated Dick, and Nico pursed his lips as he wrestled with his urge to correct him, _actually, about the being dead part…_

Nico watched as Dick strode up to his giant fridge to retrieve a bottle of Smirnoff. Watching him drink straight from the bottle, Nico cleared his suddenly dry throat as he opened his mouth… _he deserves to know, I guess_ , but he felt the strange feeling of unease once more just as the words came from his mouth, as if he shouldn't be saying this just yet – as if it was too soon.

"Actually—" but just before the next words could come, two loud beeping sounds rang throughout the penthouse, and Dick – who had taken his domino mask off as soon as he entered his home – immediately straightened and donned his mask once more.

"What is that?"

"Urgent message from Superboy, he says there's been an incident at the Hall,"

At Nico's blank look, Dick rolled his eyes as he flicked off the lights and headed for the balcony,

"The Hall of Justice in D.C., you coming? You are technically apart of the team, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Nico said as he conjured his shadow mask, and followed Dick to the railing of the balcony, where the former Boy Wonder was perched.

"See that phone booth down there?" he said, as he pointed towards the abandoned one situated behind a building, fifty stories below,

"I'll meet you there," and with that, Dick leapt off the balcony with a graceful swoop, doing a double somersault in the air before landing on the roof the next building.

When Nico emerged from the shadow next to the booth, he only had to wait several seconds before Dick landed in front of him with the elegance of a professional gymnast, but as he was about to enter the phone booth, he noticed that Dick had stopped in his tracks.

"Are we…going?"

"Yeah, in a sec, something else just came up."

Nico turned to see a hologram screen was being projected from Nightwing's gauntlet, though he only got a glance at it before it was shut off.

"What's happened now?"

"Oh nothing, I've just been monitoring Cadmus for the past few years, back when I used to wear the red and yellow,"

"Cadmus?"

"Super secret and evil research organisation, they do all sorts of weird stuff in there. They've been low-key since we defeated the Light, but it seems they've got something new today," explained Nightwing as he entered the zeta-tube that was disguised as a phone booth.

"What do you mean?" asked Nico, just as the machine came to life at the detection of their forms.

"They just made a new subject entry in their database, something called Project: Starfire."

 **A/N oh man am i rusty at writing, it's been way too long. but i promise you, i have already finished writing the next chapter! it's just kind of 3am at the moment so i havent quite edited it yet or proof-read it. But! it will be up in a few days max, tomorrow if I can! and i will improve the quality and content of the chapters (since this was technically a filler :P) once i get the hang of writing again - sorry again for such a long wait, you guys are the best! Thanks for reading! :D**


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